Grant Resigns from Seanachai
People come and go so quickly these days. After eight years, Michael Grant has announced his resignation as Artistic Director of Seanachai Theatre Company. Grant, who has led the company since its inaugural production in 1995 ("And Neither Have I Wings to Fly"), will remain with the company as an ensemble member and a member of the Board of Directors.
Taking Grant's place as Artistic Director will be ensemble member Jacquelyn Flaherty. Flaherty has served as the Associate Artistic Director since early 2003. She joined Seanachai in May of 2001 after appering as Danaan in the Jeff Award-winning production of Ann Noble's "The Pagans." She has also worked with Northlight Theatre, Circle Theatre, and Roadworks Productions. www.seanachai.org
Freund Takes Over at Terrapin
Terrapin Theatre also announces a change of leadership. Ensemble member Jimmy Freund has taken the position of Managing Director, replacing Susie Griffith, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Griffith will remain an ensemble member and Board President. Freund's responsibilities as Managing Director begin immediately as he oversees Terrapin's first show of the 2003-2004 season. "disgruntled employees," a world-premiere comedy by Second City Veteran Kevin Crowley, opens in October at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. www.terrapintheatre.com
Theatre Building Chicago Celebrates 10 Years
Theatre Building Chicago will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its summer showcase of new works, "Stages 2003: A Festival of New Musicals," beginning Friday, August 8 and continuing through Sunday, August 10, 2003. The three-day extravaganza features eight new works, including musicals by Arthur Kopit and Donald Alan Siegal, Sherman Yellen and Wally Harper and theatre artists from across the country. www.theatrebuildingchicago.org
Thresholds' Community Project
Summers in Chicago are traditionally times when theatres and theatre artists spend time reaching out to youth, the disabled, elderly, and people in need. For the thirteenth year, the Thresholds Theatre Arts Project, an innovative annual program designed to join adults living with mental illness and working artists from the Chicago community, will present its original ensemble creation "The Politics of Roots and Branches," opening Thursday, August 14 at 8:00 p.m.
Through poetry, original music, movement, story theatre and chairs, the ensemble reveals images of unbreakable bonds of friendship, painful separation from family, and even a woman's humorous first experience with dating. The Project creates a theatre experience in which self-expression and risk-taking are encouraged, and close personal friendships are built on a platform of trust and respect. The 18 Thresholds members involved in the project live with schizophrenia, major depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety, and personality disorders.
The Project has reached more than 5,000 audience members in its 12-year production history, and has established itself in Chicago as a dynamic, original, and necessary theatrical ensemble. Performances are at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, August 15-17 and 20-23. 773-281-3800 x2417. www.thresholds.org
Steppenwolf Renames Theatres
Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced that its performance venues, currently known as the Steppenwolf Mainstage Theatre and the Steppenwolf Studio Theatre, will be renamed as the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre and the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, beginning in September 2003.
The renaming of the spaces reflects programming changes slated for the 2004-05 season, in which one of the company's five subscription plays (currently all shown in the Downstairs Theatre) will be presented in the Upstairs Theatre. "We have learned over the past nine years of producing plays in our Studio Theatre that the wok we present in that space is as professional and high-quality as the work on our Mainstage, and in an even more intimate setting," explained Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "We believe that some of the shows we present as part of our subscription series would be better served by the intimacy of the Upstairs Theatre."
The change will also allow Steppenwolf to increase its subscriber base, currently maxed out at 23,500 members, by extending the run of each of the Downstairs productions.