The Alternative History of Chicago Theater (Abridged)

In the past ten years, Chicago has emerged as America’s Theater City. With institutions like The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Victory Gardens Theater as well as a host of smaller storefront and itinerant groups, including Theater Oobleck, The House Theatre, and WNEP Theater – when talking about the stage, Chicago is no longer the second city.

And while the history of Chicago’s theater scene is well documented from A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago by long time Chicago Tribune critic Richard Christiansen, and Jeffrey Sweet’s Something Wonderful Right Away (an oral history of Chicago's The Second City troupe), missing from the written histories is a seedier, funnier past known only to those that were there.

Join WBEZ Dueling Critics Kelly Kleiman and Jonathan Arbarbanel and a panel of distinguished Chicago theater experts – including critic Kerry Reid, Broadway actreress Kate Buddeke, and Victory Gardens' founder Dennis Zacek – as they tell of their favorite moments watching and creating theater over the past six decades.  The evening will also include original pieces created and performed by sketch comedy group Robot vs. Dinosaur, spoken word troupe BoyGirlBoyGirl, fringe theater companies The Plagiarists and RoShamBo Theater, and southside educational theater company Tofu Chitlin' Circut. Reception to follow.  (Please note: Albert Williams is not longer able to attend.)

Your hosts:

Kelly Kleiman is a freelance writer on the arts, feminism, travel and social justice. Her reportage and essays appear in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor, among other dailies; in magazines including In These Times and Dance; in the alternative press; and on WBEZ. She is also editor and publisher of The Nonprofiteer, a blog about charity, philanthropy and nonprofit management.

Jonathan Abarbanel is theater critic for WBEZ and the weekly Windy City Times newspaper. He is senior writer for Chicago Footlights magazine and Chicago correspondent for Back Stage, a national trade paper. Jonathan is a long-time member of the American Theatre Critics Association and has represented the United States at three World Congresses of the International Association of Theatre Critics, a UNESCO-affiliated organization. His articles on theatre and opera have been published globally in English, French, Dutch, German and Portuguese. He is one of the few theatre critics to serve as a site reporter and panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Admission:
$15/general admission
$12/WBEZ members
$10/students (with valid ID)

ONLINE TICKETING IS NOW CLOSED. Limited tickets will be available for sale at the door.  Doors open at 6PM.
 

This event is sponsored in part by: