12-21-07
Roy Hine has Fatal Heart Attack at 51
Passing
As PerformInk went to press last week, we learned of the death just before Thanksgiving of Wagon Wheel Theatre artistic director Roy Hine, who was just 51. Hine worked at Wagon Wheel as a designer from the mid 1980s, and had been artistic director since 1995 (see “50 Years of Theatre in the Round in Indiana, PerformInk 7/22/05). The cause of death was a heart attack. Hine had been working on a production of Cinderella, which opened Nov. 30, at the time of his death. Emily Cowan, Wagon Wheel business manager, said the theatre will rely for the remainder of this season on freelance directors and choreographer Scott Michaels, who has worked with Hine for 12 years.
“It was such an absolute out of the blue shock to all of us,” said Cowan. “It’s going to be very, very hard to fill his shoes.”
Hine was not tied exclusively to Wagon Wheel. He also designed for theatres around town, including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Porchlight Music Theatre.
A memorial service was held for Hine on Dec. 10 at Wagon Wheel and on Dec. 11 at Chicago Shakespeare. Memorial donations may be made to Wagon Wheel Foundation, 2517 E. Center St., Warsaw, IN 46580.
Appointments and Disappointments
Tom Ballentine has left Theatre Building Chicago where he’s served as marketing and communications director since 2003. He’s taken a post in the private sector with a national real estate development firm, The Laramar Group. His post at TBC remains open.
Director Stuart Carden has left his post as associate artistic director of the Silk Road Theatre Project to take up the same title at the City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Beginning Dec. 27, he’ll report to artistic director Tracy Brigden, who cited Carden’s expertise in developing new works. Carden has directed several plays for City Theatre as a freelancer over the last several years.
Ron Hirsen, Chris Mann, Steven Simoncic and Marisa Wegrzyn are the four new resident playwrights at Chicago Dramatists, raising the total number to 34, including 13 playwrights whose resident status has been renewed for another three-year term. The work of the four new authors will be sampled Jan. 12 at Chicago Dramatists’ annual New Resident Playwrights’ Showcase (2 p.m., $5).
Betsy Shea, who until recently was Betsy Brennan, has departed The Silverman Group public relations firm to take over at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance as public relations manager. The still-relatively-new Mrs. Shea already is on the job at the Harris.
In an internal shift at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, long-time DCA theatre publicist Jill Hurwitz has been reassigned to manage media for Millennium Park. Christine Carrino has taken over press relations for all DCA Theatre events, coming over from the Chicago Office of Tourism (and before that the Smart Museum of Art for six years). Christine can be reached at christine.carrino@cityofchicago.org or 312/742-1148.
Awards and Honors
The head man at Chicago Dramatists, founder and artistic director Russ Tutterow, is the recipient of the Illinois Theatre Association’s 2007 Artistic Leadership Award in the Professional Division. “Russ’s tireless efforts on behalf of our playwrights have made Chicago a center for new and exciting works for the stage, and have brought our theatre community national and international attention,” the citation read. Tutterow founded Chicago Dramatists in 1979. The award was presented Sept. 15 at the ITA’s annual convention.
Season of Concern distributed its first annual Lawrence Sloan Awards at an Oct. 15 ceremony and cocktail party (Larry would have liked that). Sloan was a director, producer and AIDS activist who served as Season of Concern’s first executive director. The Sloan Awards are intended to honor individuals/organizations who/which have provided extraordinary services to Season of Concern. The first recipients were Roche Schulfer, Goodman Theatre executive director of the Goodman Theatre, who received the Heritage Award; Margaret Newton, company manager of the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire (Advocate Award) and the Wicked Chicago company (Partnership Award).