Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
The Theater is located on Navy Pier in the building to the right.

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 and family oriented programming concentrated in the summer. By summer 2005, the theater had garnered 36 Joseph Jefferson awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2008, it was the winner of the Regional Theatre Tony Award.

Contents

Background

The company's present artistic director Barbara Gaines founded CST in 1986, when it began performances on the roof of the Red Lion Pub in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood. In 1999, the company received permission to build its permanent home: a two-venue facility at Navy Pier.

Productions at CST include works from the Shakespearean canon as well as other plays and musicals. In addition to its own original productions, CST also hosts touring productions from other theatres.

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is part of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA).

History

CST was founded as the Chicago Shakespeare Workshop by current Artistic Director Barbara Gaines in 1986, a name which was changed a year later to the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory and finally in 1999 to Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It performed its first twelve seasons in residency at the Ruth Page Theater, where it performed titles ranging from better-known Shakespeare plays such as Hamlet and King Lear as well as lesser-known titles such as Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens. Although the theater was critically lauded for its innovative approach to classic works, it was limited by the age and spatial restrictions of the Ruth Page Theater and began looking for a new performance space in the late 1990s.

In 1997, CST announced its plans to move from the Ruth Page to a new facility located at Navy Pier, a place better known for its family attractions and in fact the most popular tourist attraction in the Midwest. The move was accompanied by a public relations blitz, which even involved Mayor Richard M. Daley naming April 23, 1997 Shakespeare Repertory Day. The company began a large-scale capital campaign to finance the move, and finally opened its year 2000 season in its new, state-of-the-art facility. Since then, CST has grown from the third-largest theater company in Chicago to the third-largest in the entire Midwest, at a rate 400% faster than the industry growth trend.

Facilities

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has, since the year 2000, been in residence in a new, seven-story, 75,000-square-metre (810,000 sq ft) facility on Chicago's Navy Pier, which houses its box office, administrative offices, and performance venues. The first performance at this facility was Eric Idle reading from his novel, The Road to Mars.

The 510-seat Courtyard Theater which is the primary production venue for CST has features state-of-the-art technology and acoustics, together with a versatile thrust stage and deep proscenium, create a flexible performance space. A second theater, the 200-seat black box "Upstairs" space, is devoted to smaller but still-popular productions such as The Second City's smash hit, Romeo and Juliet Musical: The People Vs. Friar Laurence, The Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet.

Educational Outreach

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's "Team Shakespeare" program is the largest arts-in-education program in the state of Illinois. The program reaches nearly 50,000 students annually through group matinée performances, touring programs, abridged theater productions, and discussions, and also reaches out to educators with teacher resources and workshops.

External links

Coordinates: 41°53′30″N 87°36′21″W / 41.8916°N 87.6057°W / 41.8916; -87.6057


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Chicago High School for the Arts — Chicago High School of the Arts Location Chicago, Illinois, United States Information Type Renaissance 2010 Contract School Motto for the arts + minds of Chicago Executive Director, Jose Ochoa Established …   Wikipedia

  • Shakespeare Theatre Association of America — The Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA) was established to provide a forum for the artistic and managerial leadership of theatres whose central activity is the production of Shakespeare s plays; to discuss issues and share methods… …   Wikipedia

  • List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago — Chicago has many cultural institutions and museums, large and small. Museums Art museums * Art Institute of Chicago * Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University) * Chicago Archicenter * The [http://www.chi athenaeum.org/park.htm] …   Wikipedia

  • Culture of Chicago — Chicago Jazz Club The culture of Chicago, Illinois, is particularly known for various forms of performing arts, such as improvisational comedy, and music, such as Chicago blues and soul.[citation needed] The …   Wikipedia

  • Theatre in Chicago — Note on spelling: While most Americans use er (as per American spelling conventions), the majority of venues, performers and trade groups for live theatre use re. [citation needed] Not to be confused with the Chicago Theatre, built in 1921, a… …   Wikipedia

  • Music of Chicago — Muddy Waters, a major originator of postwar Chicago blues As the largest non coastal United States city, Chicago, Illinois is a major center for music[1] in the midwestern United States, especially in the early 1900s, when the Great Migration …   Wikipedia

  • Shakespeare in performance — Numerous performances of William Shakespeare s plays have occurred since the end of the 16th century. While Shakespeare was alive, many of his greatest plays were performed by the Lord Chamberlain s Men and King s Men acting companies at the… …   Wikipedia

  • THEATER — origins post biblical period FROM 1600 TO THE 20TH CENTURY england france germany italy holland russia united states jews in the musical the jew as entertainer yiddish theater premodern performance in yiddish haskalah drama broder singers the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Shakespeare in Love — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Shakespeare in Love Produktionsland USA, Großbritannien …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shakespeare in love — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel: Shakespeare in Love Originaltitel: Shakespeare in Love Produktionsland: USA, Großbritannien Erscheinungsjahr: 1998 Länge: 123 Minuten Originalsprache …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”