Porchlight Music Theatre

Last updated
Porchlight Music Theatre
Founded1994 (1994)
Type Theatrical productions
Location
Website porchlightmusictheatre.org

Porchlight Music Theatre is a professional theatre company in Chicago, Illinois that has won numerous Joseph Jefferson Awards in its 25-year history. The company has come to embody the slogan "American musicals. Chicago style".

Contents

About

Its initial production in 1995 was the premiere of Women Who Love Science Too Much by K.R. Cahill and directed by William Eric Bramlett.

In 2010, Michael Weber took over artistic direction. Weber previously served as artistic director for the inaugural season of Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place (now the Broadway Playhouse) and at Theatre at the Center (1998–2004). [1]

During the 2016–2017 season, the theatre attracted record attendance with its staging of In the Heights . This production changed the face of the company and helped the company move to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, in Chicago's Gold Coast. [2]

Productions

SeasonProductions
1995–1996Women Who Love Science Too Much / Macabaret / Family Album / Three Sisters
1996–1997The Still Time / Macabaret / Hereafter
1997–1998Macabaret / The Vanishing Point
1998–1999 Ruthless! / Falsettos
1999–2000Colette Collage / Merrily We Roll Along
2000–2001 Into the Woods / Passion
2001–2002 A Little Night Music / Children of Eden / A New Brain
2002–2003 Promises, Promises / Company
2003–2004 Cabaret / Amadeus
2004–2005 Sweeney Todd / Closer Than Ever
2005–2006 Gypsy / Macabaret / The Secret Garden
2006–2007 A Wonderful Life / Assassins / The Teapot Scandals / Ragtime
2007–2008 Phantom / A Wonderful Life / Nine
2008–2009 Candide / Pacific Overtures / Once on This Island
2009–2010 The Fantasticks / Macabaret / Miracle on 34th Street / Meet John Doe
2010–2011 Sunday in the Park with George / Miracle on 34th Street / Meet John Doe / The King & I
2011–2012 Putting It Together / A Catered Affair / tick, tick...BOOM!
2012–2013 A Class Act / Gifts of the Magi / Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill / Pal Joey
2013–2014 Double Trouble / Ain't Misbehavin' / How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
2014–2015 Sweeney Todd / Sondheim on Sondheim / A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2015–2016 Side Show / Ain't Misbehavin' / Far From Heaven / Dreamgirls
2016–2017 In the Heights / End of the Rainbow / The Scottsboro Boys / Marry Me a Little
2017–2018 Billy Elliot / Merrily We Roll Along / Memphis
2018–2019 Gypsy / A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder / A Chorus Line
2019–2020 Sunset Boulevard / Sophisticated Ladies / Freaky Friday
2021-2022 Pump Boys & Dinettes / Blues in the Night / Spring Awakening
2022-2023 Rent / Cabaret / Ernest Shackleton Loves Me
2023-2024 Anything Goes
2024-2025 Fun Home / Titanique

New Faces Sing Broadway Series

Porchlight created this revue series which runs for one to two nights. It is an audience-interactive event that encompasses the 'hits and misses' of a given season on Broadway. The night is emceed by a local theatre star and showcases ten rising music theatre talents. [3]

Porchlight Revisits Series

Since 2013, the company has staged series' of 'lost' musicals. There are three of these productions per season. Each production runs for three nights. Before each performance, there is a "Behind the Show Backstory" multimedia presentation by Artistic Director Michael Weber explaining the history of the production. [4]

Education

Since 2014, the company has offered children and professional artists the opportunity to pursue training in singing, dancing, acting, and writing. It is an environment where working artists can practice and create with other artists. It provides scholarship events and offers summer camps and school-year programming for local teachers. Porchlight also offers rehearsal space to rent out. [5]

Awards

Porchlight Music Theatre has received a total of 42 Jeff Awards and 139 Jeff Award nominations. They have additionally received 7 Black Theatre Alliance awards and 22 Black Theatre Alliance nominations.

Below are the productions that have won an Equity Joseph Jefferson Award and the season in which it was won.

SeasonProduction
2012–2013 A Class Act
2013–2014 Ain't Misbehavin'
2014–2015 Sondheim on Sondheim
2015–2016 Dreamgirls
2016–2017 The Scottsboro Boys

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Groener</span> German-born American actor and dancer (born 1951)

Harry Groener is a German-born American actor and dancer, perhaps best known for playing Mayor Wilkins in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Shakespeare Theater</span> Non-profit professional theater company in Chicago

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth education and family oriented programming. The theater had garnered 77 Joseph Jefferson awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2008, it was the winner of the Regional Theatre Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theater in Chicago</span> Theater performed in Chicago, Illinois

Theater in Chicago describes not only theater performed in Chicago, Illinois, but also to the movement in Chicago that saw a number of small, meagerly funded companies grow to institutions of national and international significance. Chicago had long been a popular destination for touring productions, as well as original productions that transfer to Broadway and other cities. According to Variety editor Gordon Cox, beside New York City, Chicago has one of the most lively theater scenes in the United States. As many as 100 shows could be seen any given night from 200 companies as of 2018, some with national reputations and many in creative "storefront" theaters, demonstrating a vibrant theater scene "from the ground up". According to American Theatre magazine, Chicago's theater is "justly legendary".

Jeffrey Sweet is an American writer, journalist, songwriter and theatre historian.

<i>In the Heights</i> 2005 musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda

In the Heights is a musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican American neighborhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Sidney Bembridge</span> Musical artist

Brian Sidney Bembridge is an American scenic, lighting, and costume designer for theater and film. His work has been seen on stages and screens throughout the country and Internationally in Australia, Germany, Prague, Ireland, and Great Britain. Mr. Bembridge has also taught and lectured at many universities across the country. He holds a BFA from University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BoHo Theatre</span> Chicago-based theatre company

BoHo Theatre was a non-profit Chicago-based theatre company. Founded in 2003, their productions garnered praise, were favored with Joseph Jefferson Award recommendations and citations for several productions. The company was founded by artistic director Stephen Genovese until 2010, when he was succeeded by artistic director Peter Marston Sullivan. The final artistic director for Boho was the Jeff Award winning director, and Paramount Theatre lead actor, Stephen Schellhardt.

Robert Falls is an American theater director and the former artistic director of the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

<i>Adding Machine</i> (musical) Musical

Adding Machine is a musical with music by Joshua Schmidt, and book and lyrics by Schmidt and Jason Loewith. It is an adaptation of Elmer Rice's 1923 play of the same name.

Andy Blankenbuehler is an American dancer, choreographer and director primarily for stage and concerts. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography five times, and has won three times: for In the Heights (2008), Hamilton (2016), and Bandstand (2017). Blankenbuehler's other Broadway choreography work includes 9 to 5, Bring it On: The Musical, and the 2016 Cats revival. Blankenbuehler was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018 for his work on Hamilton. He also choreographed the movie adaptation of Cats. Most recently he choreographed, directed and co-wrote Only Gold - a new musical with Music by Kate Nash at MCC Theater.

The Celebration Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre company in Los Angeles, founded in 1982. The company is located in West Hollywood, on the west end of Theatre Row, and specializes in works representing the LGBTQ+ experience.

Lookingglass Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in Chicago, Illinois.

<i>The Scottsboro Boys</i> (musical) Musical

The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death. The musical has the framework of a minstrel show, altered to "create a musical social critique" with a company that, except for one, consists "entirely of African-American performers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessie Mueller</span> American actress and singer

Jessica Ruth Mueller is an American actress and singer. She started her acting career in Chicago and won two Joseph Jefferson Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and Amalia Balash in She Loves Me. In 2011, she moved to New York City to star in a Broadway revival of musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her performance as Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She went on to receive two additional Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award nominations for her leading roles in Waitress (2016) and the Broadway revival of Carousel (2018).

Pam MacKinnon is an American theatre director. She has directed for the stage Off-Broadway, on Broadway and in regional theatre. She won the Obie Award for Directing and received a Tony Award nomination, Best Director, for her work on Clybourne Park. In 2013 she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She was named artistic director of American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California on January 23, 2018.

Rachel Rockwell was an American theater director, choreographer and performer.

Disgraced (2012) is the first stage play by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar. It premiered in Chicago and has had Off-Broadway and Off West End engagements. The play, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater October 23, 2014. Disgraced has also been recognized with a 2012 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work – Play or Musical and a 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting. The 2014 Broadway transfer earned a nomination for Tony Award for Best Play in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Bellie</span>

Kevin Bellie is an American director and choreographer based in the Chicago, Illinois area. Bellie has been nominated for 20 Joseph Jefferson Awards and is a five-time award winner. Bellie was artistic director for Circle Theatre Chicago in Forest Park from 2003–2012 before stepping down to pursue freelance work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Bohmer</span> American actor and singer

Ron Bohmer is an American actor and singer best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway and as a recording artist and singer-songwriter. He has starred in numerous Broadway productions, including The Scarlet Pimpernel as Percy, Les Misérables as Enjolras, Ragtime as the Father and Fiddler on the Roof as Fyedka, and toured the United States playing such parts as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard, Alex Dillingham in Aspects of Love and Joseph Smith in The Book of Mormon. As a concert soloist he has performed with symphony orchestras around the world.

Kate Goehring is an American stage, film and television actress.

References

  1. Tribune, Chicago. "Porchlight's tuneful ambition". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  2. "Porchlight's 'In the Heights' ablaze with emotional fireworks". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  3. "New Faces Sing Broadway | Porchlight Music Theatre". Porchlight Music Theatre. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  4. "Porchlight Revisits | Porchlight Music Theatre". Porchlight Music Theatre. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  5. "The School at Porchlight | Porchlight Music Theatre". Porchlight Music Theatre. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  6. "About Us | Porchlight Music Theatre". Porchlight Music Theatre. Retrieved 2018-05-23.