Victory Gardens Theater

Last updated
Victory Gardens Theater
VG Biograph in 2018.jpg
VG Biograph in 2018
USA Illinois location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Victory Gardens Theater
Location within Illinois
Address2433 N. Lincoln Avenue
LocationChicago, IL 60614
Coordinates 41°55′35″N87°39′00″W / 41.9263801°N 87.6498738°W / 41.9263801; -87.6498738 Coordinates: 41°55′35″N87°39′00″W / 41.9263801°N 87.6498738°W / 41.9263801; -87.6498738
Seating typeReserved seating
Opened1974
Website
victorygardens.org

Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Gordon, Cordis Heard, Roberta Maguire, Mac McGuinnes, June Pyskaček, and David Rasche each fronted $1,000 to start a company outside the Chicago Loop and Gordon donated the light board of his Organic Theater Company. The theater's first production, The Velvet Rose, by Stacy Myatt premiered on October 9, 1974. [1]

Contents

Clark Street, 1974

The company's initial home was the Northside Auditorium Building, 3730 N. Clark Street in Chicago, originally a Swedish social club. Its second production—a country-western musical co-produced with commercial producers called The Magnolia Club by Jeff Berkson, John Karraker and David Karraker — was the company's first hit. Marcelle McVay was the first managing director. [1]

In 1975, director Dennis Začek staged The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, beginning a relationship that led to Začek being named artistic director in 1977.

Key on-going collaborators worked with the company for the first time in the Clark Street space, including actor William L. Petersen, Marcelle McVay, director Sandy Shinner, and playwrights Steve Carter and Jeffrey Sweet. McVay, who is married to Začek, subsequently became managing director and Shinner later became associate artistic director.

Body Politic Theater, 1981

In 1981, the success of Sweet's third play with the company, Ties, led to it being transferred to an extended run in the larger space downstairs at the Body Politic Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln. When Ties closed, the downstairs space became Victory Gardens’ new home. Upon the closure of the Body Politic in 1995, Victory Gardens acquired the whole building. [1]

In 1989, Začek's staging of James Sherman's Beau Jest moved off-Broadway and was subsequently staged in hundreds of productions around the world.[ citation needed ] [2] In 2008, Sherman released a film version of the play starring Lainie Kazan and Seymour Cassel. [3]

In 1996, the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble was created, a coming together of a diverse group of playwrights under a producing organization, virtually unheard of in American resident theaters. Founding members Steve Carter and James Sherman were joined by Claudia Allen, Dean Corrin, Lonnie Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher as the founding members of the company's Playwrights Ensemble.

On June 3, 2001, Victory Gardens received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. [4] Winning the award made them one of five Chicago companies to be so honored, the other four being the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Move to Biograph Theatre, 2006

In 2006, Victory Gardens underwent a $11.8 million renovation and opened a re-designed Biograph Theater at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue as its new home. The Biograph, the notorious location of the ambush of gangster John Dillinger, opened with a party hosted by William L. Petersen, who played Dillinger at Victory Gardens at the beginning of his career. [5]

The space at 2257 N. Lincoln has been redubbed the Victory Gardens Greenhouse and is mostly rented to a variety of non-profit companies including Shattered Globe and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. In 2008 the Victory Gardens Greenhouse was sold to the Wendy and William Spatz Charitable Foundation. It is now the Greenhouse Theater Center. [6]

In 2010, Victory Gardens named the studio space at the Biograph Theater the Richard Christiansen Theatre in honor of longtime Chicago Tribune theatre critic Richard Christiansen, author of the book A Theatre of Our Own. [7]

Criticism and scandals

2020 mass resignations

Chay Yew was named artistic director in 2011. [8] In February 2012, [9] Yew granted the original Playwrights Ensemble 'alumni' status and introduced a new ensemble of playwrights. [10] [11]

Yew announced his departure from Victory Gardens in December 2019. [12] On May 5, 2020, then-executive director Erica Daniels was named Victory Gardens' executive artistic director. [13] The Playwrights Ensemble announced their collective resignation in protest on May 22, citing a lack of transparency in Victory Gardens' search for a new artistic director. [14] On June 8, in response to the resulting community backlash and the ongoing George Floyd protests, Daniels stepped down from her positions as executive director and Executive Artistic Director. The board of directors' chairman Steve Miller also stepped down from his position, but remained on the board. [15]

The current acting managing director of Victory Gardens is Roxanna Conner; Charles E. Harris, II is the board president. [16] [17]

2022 mass resignations and petition

On July 6, 2022, Former Ensemble Playwright isaac gómez posted a letter to his Medium account entitled "We Resign." The letter called for the immediate resignation of the Victory Gardens' Board of Directors after their refusal to fill the role of executive director for over two years and plan to acquire additional property. [18] [19] The nine remaining full-time non-leadership staff members posted a statement of solidarity, calling for the resignation of the Board, on the official Victory Gardens social media pages. Those accounts were hijacked and posts subsequently removed while the staff were locked out of their social media accounts. VGT staff created an alternative Instagram account - The VGT Nine. [20] [21]

All resident artists departed the company and playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza pulled the theatre's rights to perform her play cullud wattah through July 17, 2022. Dickerson-Despenza wrote in a public statement - "As a result of the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal values espoused by the board of directors at Victory Gardens Theater, I have pulled the production of my show, cullud wattah, effective immediately." [22] [23] [24] The majority of the artists will still receive pay through the originally scheduled run dates.

On July 8, 2022, Actors' Equity Association issued a statement in support of the resigning artists, stating “Actors’ Equity Association stands fully in support of our members, and their right to a safe work environment — as well as the right of all workers to work in a safe environment free from harassment, discrimination and bullying. [25]

As of July 12, 2022, over 1,600 signatures from theater artists and administrators nationwide have been added to a Change.org petition started by the Chicago Inclusion Project staff. [26] Signatories vow to not accept work at Victory Gardens unless artistic director Ken-Matt Martin is reinstated and the current Board of Directors resigns by July 18, 2022. [27]

Playwrights Ensemble

Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble Alumni: [28]

Recent production history

National Artistic Advisory Board

Victory Gardens has assembled several national theater artists who serve as artistic advisors and ambassadors. This board includes Luis Alfaro, Nilo Cruz, Eve Ensler, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, John Logan, Craig Lucas, Sandra Oh, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jose Rivera, Anika Noni Rose, Sarah Ruhl, Jeanine Tesori, Paula Vogel, George C. Wolfe, and B.D. Wong.

See also

Related Research Articles

<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".

Intiman Theatre Festival in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 as a resident theatre by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the Intiman soon called itself as "Seattle's classic theater". Its debut season in 1972 included Rosmersholm, The Creditors, The Underpants, and Brecht on Brecht. The theater has been host to Tony-nominated Director Bartlett Sher, Tony-nominated actress Celia Keenan-Bolger, and movie actor Tom Skerritt. It was also home to the world premieres of the Tony-winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza, Craig Lucas's Singing Forest and Dan Savage's "Miracle!". Lucas also served as the Associate Artistic Director. Intiman won the 2006 Regional Theatre Tony Award.

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berliner Ensemble</span> German theatre company in Berlin

The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langhoff's Deutsches Theater and in 1954 moved to the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, built in 1892, that was open for the 1928 premiere of The Threepenny Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organic Theater Company</span>

Organic Theater Company was founded in 1969 in Madison, Wisconsin by artistic director Stuart Gordon and his wife Carolyn Purdy Gordon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chay Yew</span> American dramatist

Chay Yew is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. He was artistic director of the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago from 2011 to 2020.

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company is a theater in Chicago known for productions from playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw and Tom Stoppard. Marti Lyons serves as the company's Artistic Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Norris (playwright)</span> American dramatist

Bruce Norris is an American character actor and playwright associated with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. His play Clybourne Park won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Ari Roth is an American theatrical producer, playwright, director and educator. From 2014 to 2020 Roth served as the Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company of DC and was formerly the Artistic Director of Theater J at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center from 1997 to 2014. Over 18 seasons at Theater J, he produced more than 129 productions and created festivals including "Locally Grown: Community Supported Art," "Voices from a Changing Middle East", and Theater J's acclaimed "Beyond The Stage" and "Artistic Director's Roundtable" series. In 2010, Roth was named as one of the Forward 50, honoring nationally prominent "men and women who are leading the American Jewish community into the 21st century, and in 2017 he was given the DC Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership. In 2021, Roth launched a new partnership with A. Lorraine Robinson, founding Voices Festival Productions, to be the new home for his long-running "Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival." Their first public event was a virtual benefit in support of "Ukrainian Playwrights Under Siege" in partnership with the Arts Club of Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Alfaro</span> American performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist

Luis Alfaro is a Chicano performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist.

Steven Sapp co-founded The POINT Community Development Corporation in 1993 and Universes in 1995, both in collaboration with Mildred Ruiz-Sapp.

American Blues Theater is a nonprofit, professional Equity theater company in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The ensemble currently has 30 members.

Ricardo Gutierrez is a Mexican American actor, director, and teacher. He had a recurring role as Alderman Mata on the first season of the Starz Network drama series Boss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj</span>

Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is an Indo-Afro-Caribbean artist, stage director, playwright and activist. He is represented by Michael Moore Agency Literary & Creatives. This season at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Maharaj will direct Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, re-imagined by composer Damien Sneed and librettist Karen Chilton. He is also the stage director and community consultant for Slanted: An American Rock Opera by Simon Tam and Joe X. Jang, Madison Lodge by Tre’von Griffith, and Cook Shack by Del’Shawn Taylor and Samiya Bashir as part of Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ Inaugural New Works Collective. Last season, he was assistant director for the world premiere of Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the Metropolitan Opera, and he is a current member of the Met/AGMA Equity & Diversity Committee. Maharaj has previously served as the Associate Artistic Producer at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Artistic Director of New Freedom Theatre, Producing Artistic Director of American Stage, and Third-Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Brooklyn Branch. Maharaj has worked on Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally. His credits include the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, Madison Square Garden, Sheen Center, The Public, Second Stage, SoHo Playhouse, Classical Theater of Harlem, New Federal Theater, New World Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Portland Stage, Actors Theater of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare, Signature Theater, Theater Works, Goodman Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Perseverance, and The Kennedy Center. His numerous honors include the Woodie King Jr. Award, four AUDELCO Awards, Barrymore Award, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Theatrical Moment of the Year, The New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award, Theater Communications Group Directors Grant and Playwriting Grant, National Alliance for Musical Theater Award, and Trinidad and Tobago United Community Award for his outstanding contribution to the Trinidad and Tobago Diaspora as an Artist and Arts Advocate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ike Holter</span> American playwright (born 1985)

Ike Holter is an American playwright. He won a Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for drama in 2017. Holter is a resident playwright at Victory Gardens Theater, and has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, South Coast Repertory and The Playwrights' Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudia Allen</span> American playwright and educator (born 1954)

Claudia Allen is an American playwright and educator based in Chicago, Illinois. She is known for writing LGBT characters in her plays, for Hannah Free, and for her association with the Victory Gardens Theater.

Stupid Fucking Bird is a contemporary adaptation of Anton Chekhov's 1896 play The Seagull, written by American playwright Aaron Posner, co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. Posner has written multiple adaptations of Chekhov and Shakespeare's works. In 2013, Stupid Fucking Bird premiered at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. According to Howard Shalwitz, the play takes a satirical spin on a theatrical classic, but has the essence of Chekhov's original intent for the piece—what it means to create art.

Sandra Marquez is a Jeff-nominated actor, director, and educator based in Chicago. She is an ensemble member with Steppenwolf Theatre, Teatro Vista and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.

Sandra Delgado is a Colombian-American actor, writer, and producer who grew up and works in Chicago, Illinois.

David Darlow is an American actor and stage director.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "IN BLOOM". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  2. Bommer, Lawrence. "'BEAU JEST' BACK WHERE IT BEGAN AT CANDLELIGHT'S FORUM THEATRE". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  3. "Beau Jest (2008)". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  4. Jones, Kenneth (2001-05-08). "Victory Gardens Theater, Committed to New Works, Gets Regional Tony Award Honor". Playbill. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  5. Lydersen, Kari. "Chicago reopens movie house where Dillinger was killed". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  6. "Victory Gardens Theater Selling Gardens Greenhouse". BroadwayWorld Chicago. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  7. "Victory Gardens to Name New Studio the Richard Christiansen Theater". Theatre in Chicago. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  8. Oxman, Steven. "Yew to lead Victory Gardens". Variety. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. Reid, Kerry. "How Chay Yew Made Victory Gardens Feel New Again". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  10. Isaacs, Deanna. "At Victory Gardens, a bitter uprooting". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  11. Healy, Patrick. "'Opening Doors' Means Rattling Some Cages". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  12. Jones, Chris. "Victory Gardens Theater artistic director Chay Yew will step down". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  13. "Victory Gardens Names Erica Daniels New Executive Artistic Director". American Theatre. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  14. "Letter from the Playwrights of Victory Gardens Theater". Medium. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. Di Nunzio, Miriam. "Erica Daniels exits Victory Gardens Theater posts following uproar". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  16. "Staff". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  17. "Board of Directors". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  18. gómez, isaac (2022-07-06). "We Resign". Medium. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  19. "Victory Gardens Theater places artistic director 'on leave' and sees a mass resignation of affiliated artists". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  20. "Login • Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2022-07-11.{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  21. Victor, Regina (2022-07-06). "Victory Gardens Staff Statement of Solidarity Reportedly Removed by Board" . Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  22. Culwell-Block, Logan (July 8, 2022). "Erika Dickerson-Despenza Pulls Rights to Victory Gardens Theater's Cullud Wattah". Playbill. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  23. "Victory Gardens Theater cancels remaining performances of 'cullud wattah' amid company upheaval". Chicago Sun-Times. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  24. "Victory Gardens Theater, in turmoil, cancels performances of 'cullud wattah'". Chicago Tribune. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  25. "Actors' Equity Association Supports Victory Gardens Theater Workers · Actors' Equity Association". actorsequity.org. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  26. "ABOUT". TCIP. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  27. "Strife at Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater". Crain's Chicago Business. 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  28. "Playwrights Ensemble". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  29. "Right to Be Forgotten". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  30. "Dhaba on Devon Avenue by Madhuri Shekar". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  31. "How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  32. "The First Deep Breath by Lee Edward Colston II". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  33. "Tiny Beautiful Things at Victory Gardens". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  34. "If I Forget". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  35. "Cambodian Rock Band". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  36. "Pipeline". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  37. "Rightlynd*". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  38. "Indecent". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  39. "Culture Clash: An American Odyssey". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  40. "Mies Julie". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  41. "Lettie*". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  42. "Breach: a manifesto on race in america through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate*". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  43. "Fade". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  44. "Fun Home". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  45. "Native Gardens". Victory Gardens. Retrieved 2020-02-03.