Chicago Posts: Awesome Theatre Town? Or the Awesomest?

Chicago is an awesome town.  I know this because I have been there once and I had a blast.  Chicago buys you whiskeys and beers-back in friendly, binged-in pubs, and Chicago puts its arm around you and tells you about its job as an assistant district attorney and how it married its high school sweetheart and has a nice family though one of its kids is disabled with something you cannot remember because of all the drinks Chicago has stood you.  And then later when you go to take a piss you find Chicago making out with this kind of skanky chick in the men’s room stall, and you’re pretty sure she’s not Chicago’s wife who Chicago was just telling you about--what was it?  Five minutes?-- or half an hour ago?  Doesn’t matter.  Who are you to judge?  Doesn’t change the fact that Chicago is an awesome town.

 

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But how awesome is Chicago as a theatre town?  My personal experience on this subject is much more limited.  This production of Louis Slotin Sonata that I am going to see this weekend is my first full production in what is, by nearly everyone’s estimation, one of the United States great stage cities.

Certainly everyone in the business likes to point to the Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company as the model for how to be both commercially successful and artistically relevant.  How many nascent ensemble-based theatre companies have promised you, with their collective hand out for a donation, that they intend to be Seattle or L.A.’s next Steppenwolf?  Me, honestly have no idea if Steppenwolf is all that great.  I have only seen one production by that team, nearly two decades ago, in New York City.  It was their adaptation of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and it was… oh right, it was frickin’ awesome.

Chicago is certainly less shy about promoting its theatre scene than Seattle.  The Tribune’s critic, Chris Jones calls his blog “Theater Loop: News from America’s Hottest Theater City.”  What critic in Seattle would ever be so boldly boosterish?  By my admittedly loose estimation, Louis Slotin Sonata received more reviews per capita in Chicago than in Seattle, Los Angeles or New York.  The fact that they were not all unqualified raves does not really matter.  Coverage is coverage and wide coverage is a sign of health for a theatre town.

To be fair, Chicago does seem to have more than its fair share of block-headed, Broadway-bedazzled reviewers.  Back in January, the above-mentioned Mr. Jones offered his thoughts on Outrageous Fortune, TCG’s ground-breaking analysis of the plight of American playwrights.  He dismissed us as “whining” and “absurdly self-indulgent.”  More recently he began the meat of his review of my Louis Slotin Sonata by saying, “By reacting fast, blocking and ending the reaction, Slotin saved the lives of the men who were with him in the lab that day,” thus moronically parroting the blatant falsehood that the U.S. government began spinning within hours of an embarrassingly avoidable accident.  One might forgive Jones for perpetuating this historical and scientific deceit if the precise counterpoint were not demonstrated over and over throughout the play, providing (I hope) the essential underpinning of Slotin’s unique path to redemption.

So critics can be patronizing blowhard nitwits in the Midwest, too.  Doesn’t matter.  Who is Seattle to judge?  (We can’t even get our best reviewer to commit to staying past intermission.)  Doesn’t change the fact that Chicago is almost certainly an awesome theatre town.  On this trip I want to learn more about how and why this is so.  I think the Emerald City could learn some things from the Windy One.

 

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*A note on Gary’s illustration:  I’m so excited by this one because it gives an inside view to a process usually only seen by myself, Gary and the director of whatever show we might be working on.  Gary likes to diagram.  I think he calls these things bubble charts and they represent one of the ways he gets his arms around a play. 

I stared at this one for like fifteen minutes last night after it came across the inter-tubes.  I could make sense of pieces of it, but the whole eluded me.  I chalked this up to Gary being smarter than me.  The next morning I looked at it fresh and realized my error.  The main path represents not “Paul’s” progress, but “Chicago’s”.  Of course!  I’m not the main character of this piece, Chi-town is (especially in the first paragraph, which this picture maps to perfection.)

Gary’s diagrams cut straight to the heart of a story and expose the essential mechanics that even the writer didn’t fully understand when he constructed it. 

Plus they’re funny.

Comments

[Richelle Dickerson]

I heartily agree. It's been nearly 20 years now, but I think very fondly back on my days in Chicago. The open friendliness there always hits me when I go back. I love Seattle, but the cliquishness in our city is a stark contrast to Chicago where you go into a bar and meet everyone within 10 minutes (an exaggeration, I know, but it feels that way) and then go bar-hopping with your new friends.

One memory in particular was, while visiting friends a few years ago, going into a bar that had a singer/songwriter performing. Before we left a good portion of the patrons were in the middle of the floor, arms around each other, singing along to the songs. I thought 'this would never happen in Seattle.'

As for why it's such a great theatre town, I wonder if some of that is because Chicago is a through-way. They get artists from all over the country just passing through. What I found in Chicago back in my theatre days was an enthusiasm or energy that lent itself to a 'taking all comers' atmosphere. I think the Chicago theatre scene really thrives is the constant influx of new artists and ideas to the city-and the willingness of the community to embrace and welcome them.

Back when I was there, many of the smaller theatres all supported each other by doing things like having viewings on Monday (when most theatres were dark) so the other artists could see the shows. Many of them also had an 'Artists' Night' where, if you brought your headshot and resume, you got in for a reduced price (I think even the Goodman, Steppenwolf and Wisdom Bridge were doing that as well).

I did think I would continue in the theatre world when I moved to Seattle. When I started looking into the theatre companies and what one does to get work in this town, I was pretty put-off by the 'who are you and what have YOU done' attitude I got from many of the people I first met. It seemed that the cliquishness of the city definitely infected the theatre scene as well. I don't know if this is still true, but it just made me weary.

I'll be interested in hearing about the experience you have this weekend!

[Darian]

I saw about 30 shows the summer I lived in Chicago and interned at the Steppenwolf. I was, admittedly, fresh from college and full of youthful exuberance but the shows I saw there over a decade ago still resonate with me and inform my work.

The Steppenwolf isn't perfect: they have a bit of a cultural disconnect between the technical and artistic staff (or then did then, anyway) that I felt was directly proportional to the physical distance between them. (The tech staff is located in a building across the street from the art staff.) Having said that - their shows work really well. They are smart and interesting and not overly-designed and plus, you know, they get the famous people both backstage and in the audience. (Is that Mel Gibson and Kathy Bates sitting in the 3rd row? Why yes, it is).

And I took it for granted then (I don't now) that their Artistic Director and her staff spent their time going to see all of the major fringe shows in town. I think I saw her or her staff at about every show I went to that summer.

[Paul Mullin]

Richelle, thanks for that. It was a confirmation of my very brief experiences (so far) with Chicago. You can bet I'll be letting you know (at least some of) what happens this weekend.

Darian, I didn't know you spent a summer in Chicago. Thanks for sharing those experiences. Yes, the artistic leadership at Big Houses checking out what's happening at the smaller ones and then maybe help develop a pipeline: what a concept!