This should be a celebratory time for Chicago theatre. Three of the city’s major institutions are all celebrating significant milestones in their long, illustrious histories. And yet, rather than reveling in celebration, I find myself singing, “one of these things is not like the others.” I feel like I’m looking at the three-headed dragon meme of Chicago theatre: two fierce, steely-eyed legends and one that’s—well, it’s just happy to be there.
First, Steppenwolf announced its 50th anniversary season, featuring five shows and 20 ensemble members, including the world premiere of Windfall, by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Awoye Timpo. Anna D. Shapiro will return to direct Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, Kenny Leon will be in town to direct Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood in Topdog/Underdog, and ensemble members Amy Morton and K. Todd Freeman will direct Mia Chung’s Catch as Catch Can and Rajiv Joseph’s Mr. Wolf, respectively. (You can find more coverage of the season from the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.)
This month also saw the presentation of this year’s non-Equity Jeff Awards (it’s 51st—so close), with Kokandy Productions taking home five awards for its production of Into the Woods, including best production (musical or revue), best ensemble (musical or revue), and best direction (musical or revue). City Lit Theater Company’s production of Seven Guitars, took home the award for best production of a play. The ceremony also saw the Theatre School at DePaul University presented with a special Jeff Award as the storied school, which got its start as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925, celebrates its 100th anniversary.
(You can read more coverage of the awards from the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.)
Of course, that also means that the Goodman itself is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and doing so in style. The season includes six world premieres among its 11 productions and slew of stars. Much like his Steppenwolf colleague, former Goodman artistic director Robert Falls will return to his stomping grounds to direct a world-premiere adaptation of Philip Barry’s Holiday by Richard Greenberg. Susan V. Booth will direct Jenna Fischer (of The Office fame) in the world premiere of Lee Kirk’s Ashland Avenue; Megan Mullally will hit the Chicago stage for the world premiere musical Iceboy! Or, the Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write ‘The Iceman Cometh’; Marco Antonio Rodriguez will bring his world-premiere adaptation of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (based on Junot Díaz’s novel), directed by Wendy Mateo; and Dael Orlandersmith will premiere her newest work Blood Memory, directed by Neel Keller.
That’s plenty to satiate any theatregoer, but the Goodman is also fitting in the world premiere of Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s Revolution(s), which features music and lyrics by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello (check out this interview between Morello and WBEZ anchor Clare Lane), as well as Chuck Smith and Harry Lennix tackling August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a year-long effort to present 100 free acts of theatre across Chicago’s 50 wards, and the opening of an off-site cultural attraction in David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar’s Theatre of the Mind. (You can read more about the season from the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.)
Then there’s Victory Gardens, which should be celebrating its own 50th anniversary. If you have a habit of periodically checking their website ever since the company fell apart following its messy dismissal of then-artistic director Ken-Matt Martin, then you’ll know it alternates between depressingly blank for what should be a celebrated theatre company and infuriatingly opaque. It’s been years now with a website devoid of anything that might resemble theatre leadership, with the same message on repeat: “While there are currently no planned productions at Victory Gardens Theater, the Board of Directors is working on new ways for the theatre to achieve its mission to nurture relevant, new theatrical work reflecting the diverse stories of our world and contributing to the vitality of American Theatre.” (That message is still on their website’s mission and history page as of this writing.)
American Theatre has previously attempted to reach the VG board to learn more about what it is they have planned for the future of what used to be, for this editor at least, a favorite company in the city. There’s been no response. Then, suddenly, the company recently announced that it’s “thrilled” to partner with Relentless Theatre Group to present David Mamet’s Henry Johnson, with Criminal Minds actor Thomas Gibson set to star.
Setting aside the fact that Gibson was fired from Criminal Minds in 2016 after kicking a writer-producer (a third strike in five years, according to Variety) and the continuing animosity between Mamet and the city he once called home, the move from VG continues to raise the question many have had for years: What is the plan here? It seems there’s still no artistic staff at the company, and it is being awkwardly led by a board which previously announced plans to transition VG from a producing company to a business that rents out its historic Biograph Theatre; they’ve yet to release any more details.
As Chris Jones notes in his Tribune report, former longtime VG artistic director Dennis Začek is on board as an executive producer, giving his stamp of approval and calling Henry Johnson director Eddie Torres his “protégé.” Still, as Jones notes, there’s no word on whether this production, to run April 9-May 4, marks some sort of return of Victory Gardens or if it’s just a one-off. (Apart from securing comments from the creative team and Mamet, the VG board didn’t respond to Jones’s request for comment either.)
I wish I had some major point to make here. Really I just feel sad. Victory Gardens was long a dream for Chicago theatremakers. We should be celebrating three major anniversaries right now from three pillars of Chicago theatre. Yet here we are, with two companies shooting for the moon and a third stubbornly earthbound.
