Last week, it was announced that 23 ensemble members of the off-loop theater company American Theater Company were leaving to start a new company called American Blues Theater (the original name of ATC). (cast of Augusta at ATC in 2008) They cited artistic and creative differences with the Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. Paparelli says that he was attempting to diversify the cast and the shows produced at ATC.‚  The ensemble of 24 actors were all white. The Dueling Critics (Jonathan Abarbanel and Kelly Kleiman)‚ sat down to talk about the split and the history of theater company drama in Chicago. And we revisit the question: will Chicago’s theater community diversify? link