Noble Fool couldn't keep its downtown location.

The year began with a crisis: five small Off-Loop theatres shut down by the Department of Revenue for not having the proper Public Place of Amusement (PPA) license. The periodic skirmishes between the theatre industry and various city departments over license and/or code violations had been going on for years, but this time the raids by the Revenuers—they actually were raids that emptied theatres in mid-performance—galvanized a counterattack.

Ultimately for the better, the Revenue raids underlined the inconsistencies and absurdities of the PPA codes as they applied to off-Loop theatres (vs., say, the United Center) and the Byzantine application process. A series of articles in the daily and weekly papers (and, notably, in this paper) generated a significant public outcry from theatre-goers that eventually reached the office of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who again demonstrated his commitment to the arts.

The Mayor directed a working group from the departments of Revenue, Fire, Building and Cultural Affairs, and representatives of the theatre industry, to come up with a simplified and revised PPA licensing code applicable to off-Loop theatres. The working group met for the first time last January and drafted new proposals by Labor Day. Meanwhile, all five of the shuttered theatres were fast-tracked through the licensing process and since have re-opened (although not without considerable cost, which even the Mayor couldn’t spare them).

In what may be its finest hour to date, the League of Chicago Theatres assumed a leadership role within days of the theatre closings, taking even the non-member playhouses under its wing, and carefully orchestrating an effective and measured public response while launching an intense private response with the city administration. The League’s efforts were a fitting launch to the League’s 25th anniversary year.

Artistically, 2004 began with a re-appearance and a disappearance. Many observers had written off the Irish Repertory Theatre after it suspended operations in 2003, canceling most of its season. But the Irish Rep came back (after settling some debts and a dispute with the SSDC) in January with the rip-snortin’ Bailegangaire at Victory Gardens, a beautifully acted treatment of an unusually rich work.

The same month, Roadworks Ensemble suspended operations indefinitely. There’s no appearance of renewed life for the award-winning, 12-year-old Equity troupe after nearly a year of inactivity. A debt reported to be about $100,000 doesn’t seem that large for a company of Roadworks’ stature, with a string of artistic successes. An outside observer cannot presume to know the details of Roadworks’ internal debate; however, there would seem to be a lesson for any not-for-profit theatre about the need for strong leadership and a committed board of directors.

As the year continued, there would be two more dramatic theatre closings. The Noble Fool couldn’t make a go of their ambitious 150-seat playhouse (plus a cabaret) in the Loop, next door to the Ford Center/Oriental Theatre. The back-breaker appeared to be the reported $16,000 monthly rent, the necessity of which put Noble Fool into a debt spiral. At the same time the downtown location was having trouble, the troupe brilliantly negotiated a contract to provide entertainment at the Pheasant Run Spa and Resort in St. Charles, thereby insuring their continuation while restoring theatre to a venue with a long dinner theatre history (under the late producer Carl Stone and then Gilda Moss).

Then, late last summer, the Defiant Theatre ensemble liquidated itself after 11 years of over-the-top theatrical excess. Consistently Chicago’s most gonzo theatre troupe (by their own definition and whatever gonzo means), Defiant might have been the one legitimate heir to the original Organic Theater Company of Stuart Gordon. Defiant realized that its large ensemble a) was growing too old to keep knocking each other about like that, and b) were ready to fry other theatrical fish in Chicago and elsewhere. In a way, Defiant was a victim both of the aging process and of its own success, and it never wanted to be Steppenwolf. So, that’s all folks; it’s been a swell party!

Chicago Shakespeare Theater continued to deliver on its promise to be an international center for classical theatre—say, isn’t that what Court Theatre is supposed to be?—co-producing The Moliere Comedies with the Stratford Festival, and presenting the Chicago debut of La Comedie Francaise, plus the return of the Abbey Theatre. Guiding lights Barbara Gaines and Criss Henderson also continued to make the CST available for a variety of industry benefits and celebrations.

CST’s efforts aside, French theatre received a huge lift as the French Cultural Services (i.e., the French government) co-coordinated Playing French, partnering with a dozen off-Loop companies to offer a wealth of contemporary French drama, much of it presented in English translation for the first time. Meanwhile, the Goodman Theatre continued its dance to a Latino beat with its second international Latino Theatre Festival.

The Latino Fest confirmed the continuing growth of the Latino audience as a niche market for Chicago theatre; a market recognized both within and outside the Latino community itself. The seminal Latino Chicago Theatre Company has been gone for several years, but in its place there has come Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Aguijon and the outreach of Goodman and Victory Gardens (which launched Latino Chicago in the first place, way back in 1979).

Another mini-trend is the growth in Asian-centric theatre companies, among them the Silk Road Theatre Project, dueEast, the brand-new Rasaka Theatre Company, Mango Tribe, Pintig Cultural Group, Tea Company and the long-standing Stir Friday Night (sketch comedy). At least three South Indian dance troupes also have formed in the last year or three. Smart money will back these troupes, recognizing an untapped potential theatre audience.

There were some bricks-and-mortar stories of note in 2004. Victory Gardens Theater made it official after a three-year dalliance with the Biograph Theatre: they would buy the Biograph and convert it into a two-stage theatre complex, while still retaining ownership of the present VG space. Purchase and renovations were pegged at $9 million, with next autumn set as the opening date. VG then will have five stages under its control, making it the city’s largest theatrical landlord. TinFish Theatre Company sold its cozy but inadequate space on Lincoln Avenue to become itinerant (at least for the moment). Curious Theatre Branch moved (to Rogers Park) and the moved again (now settling into the still-new Prop Thtr complex on Elston). Downtown, Broadway in Chicago announced that major restoration of, and improvements to, the Shubert Theatre would begin this winter. Also scooped by this paper (and still not officially announced): the Majestic Building (of which the Shubert occupies the first eight floors) will be converted into a boutique hotel.

The year saw an unusually high turn-over in artistic and/or management leadership, with changes at the helms of Chicago Dramatists, The Hypocrites, the Neo-Futurists and Stage Left among them. The most notable shifts were the honorable departures of Jacqueline Russell and Diane Claussen as executive directors of Lookingglass and Court theatres respectively, and the August exit from Light Opera Works of artistic director Lara Teeter (to assume a professorship). All made substantial contributions to their institutions and to Chicago theatre.

There was notable news on the funding front as well, most significantly, the emergence of the Illinois Arts Council with $19.6 million for Fiscal 2005 during a period of multi-billion dollar state deficits. The IAC number is down from the agency’s all time high of $24 million several years ago, but still the number is virtually the same as the previous year, which is an accomplishment in itself and a sign that Governor Rod Blagojevich is arts-friendly. At the national level, richly despised President George Bush again increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, proposing $138 million for Fiscal 2005 (although Congress ultimately may approve just $130 million). Sure, the new money comes with strings attached to fund arts in education and other safe artistic initiatives such as the touring Shakespeare project. Still, it’s real money and there have been local beneficiaries, most notably Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

For any theatre critic and arts business reporter, the best part of the year is to see a local theatre company achieve the equivalent of a personal best. For this observer, some of the highlights included Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging at Griffin, Parade at Bailiwick, The Doctor’s Dilemma at Writers’ Theatre, Pulp at About Face, The Romance of Magno Rubio at Victory Gardens, Lady Windermere’s Fan at Northlight, The Fall to Earth at Steppenwolf, King of Coons at Congo Square and just about everything at TimeLine.

As always, there were personal losses in 2004. Director Gerald Gutierrez and writer/actor Spalding Gray were among nationally known theatre artists who made important contributions to Chicago theatre (and whose careers Chicago helped). Locally, the most significant loss was the death at 89 of Fred Fine, advocate, activist, teacher, producer, the City of Chicago’s first Cultural Affairs Commissioner, a man full of years and wisdom and a helluva’ poker player. We won’t see the likes of Fred Fine again.

All told, 2004 has been a good year for theatre in Chicago.

Jonathan Abarbanel is theatre editor for the Windy City Times and theatre critic for Chicago Public Radio. He’s a featured columnist for the national trade weekly Back Stage, and senior writer for Chicago Footlights. He’s a site reporter and panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a co-founder of the National New Play Network. As a dramaturg for the Goodman, St. Nicholas, Milwaukee Repertory and Prop theatres (among others) he’s assisted in the development of over 200 new American plays.

2004 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

Headlines-In-Review

Trends in Chicago Theatre in 2004

Annual Report: A Healthy Year in Chicago Theatre

Proletariat Theatre: 2004

2004 Theatre Season Gets a B

A Year of Scattershot Splendor

The Literature of the Stage

Five Reasons to be Optimistic and a Couple, Three More Not to Be