Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Industry Ticket Offers

The Real Thing – Writers’ Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, is offering a limited number of $20 industry tickets for the following preview performances: Tuesday, September 13 (7:30pm), Thursday, September 15 (8:00pm), Sunday, September 18 (6:00pm), Tuesday, September 20 (7:30pm) and Wednesday, September 21 (7:30pm). Call 847-242-6000 and mention the codeword "INDUSTRY". Payment must be made in advance and proof of industry must be shown at pickup. Subject to availability. Visit writerstheatre.org for more information.

A Walk in the Woods - TimeLine Theatre Company at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. is offering $22 tickets through September 4 when you use code "WOODS22." Best Availability on Saturday, September 3. Available online via http://www.theaterwit.org and when you call the Theater Wit Box Office at 773.975.8150.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Industry Ticket Offer

In Pursuit - Hobo Junction Productions at the Second Stage Theater, (3408 N. Sheffield) is offering 2 for 1 industry tickets for all Thursday and Sunday performances through September 11 with proof of industry affiliation. Call 224-625-0018 to reserve and purchase your tickets at the door.

Corazón de Manzana - Mortar Theatre Company's production at the DCA Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph in Chicago, is offering $15 industry tickets for Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm or Sundays at 3pm through September 25th. Email TicketOffice@explorechicago.org or call 312-742-TIXS (8497). Visit http://www.dcatheater.org for more information.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

On Cultural Understanding

I watched a lecture the other night by Ryan Crocker, recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, previously ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan and other middle-Eastern countries. I was riveted because you know what he said, he said and I seriously paraphrase here...that all of our misunderstandings in that part of the world can be directly related to cultural misunderstandings, that the rise of terrorist groups is directly related to cultural misunderstandings. If you haven’t read The Forever War by Dexter Filkins (a New York Times reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan), I strongly recommend that you do so because he also says that our efforts in the middle east are seriously hampered because we don’t understand the culture.

That’s culture with a capital C and a very broad meaning but man, are we in the right business or what? We have the opportunity every day to deepen what it means to understand our own culture or another culture. We have the opportunity to reach audiences that might not otherwise seek out the understanding we can provide. Or maybe we open the door to someone who says I never knew that… and does more research…and pretty soon they’re the ambassador to Iraq. I majored in Art History in college and the reason I did that was because it seemed to me like it was about everything, in understanding a piece of art you had to understand the historical and cultural context in which it was made.

Cultural understanding is critical to world peace. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that by making and disseminating art we foster cultural understanding among our neighbors and across our city and throughout the world.

Deb

Monday, August 22, 2011

Industry Ticket Offer

Waiting for Lefty - American Blues Theater at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln, is offering a limited number of $15 industry tickets for the following previews: Sept. 2 (8pm), Sept. 3 (8pm), Sept. 4 (2:30pm). Call 773-871-3000 and mention the codeword "UNITE". Visit http://www.americanbluestheater.com/ for more information.

Tea at Five by Matthew Lombardo - First Folio Theatre at Mayslake Hall, Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W 31st St, Oak Brook. is offering $10 industry tickets to Weds. evenings at 8 p.m. on Sept. 14, 21, 28. Tickets are on an "as available" basis and may be purchased no sooner than 48 hours in advance. Professionals must bring a union card, a headshot/resume, tech resume, or business card indicating employment in the theater business. Tickets may be purchased by calling 630-986-8067.

The Double - Babes With Blades Theatre Company at the Lincoln Square Theater, 4754 N. Leavitt is offering $10 industry tickets for the 2 p.m. matinee performances on September 3rd, 10th and 17th with proof of industry affiliation. Call 773.904.0391 and mention this offer. Visit http://www.babeswithblades.org/ for more information.

Cyrano - The House Theatre of Chicago at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. offers $10 industry rush tickets available at all performances pending availability one prior to curtain at the box office window. Runs August 25 - October 16. Visit www.thehousetheatre.com for more information

Friday, August 19, 2011

Playwright Naomi Wallace comes to Chicago August 27th

Eclipse Theatre Company is proud to host an open forum discussion with their 2011 featured playwright Naomi Wallace, moderated by Tanya Palmer (Goodman Theatre's Director of New Play Development). Award winning playwright Naomi Wallace will discuss her career and works interspersed with a presentation of short scenes from her plays One Flea Spare, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and The Fever Chart. A question and answer session with the audience and light refreshments will follow. Following a brief intermission, a staged reading of her newest play And I And Silence will be presented.

Saturday August 27th, 2011
12:30PM
At the Greenhouse Theater Center
2257 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago

Admission is FREE (there is a $10 suggested donation)

For Reservations, call 773-325-9655 or email info@eclipsetheatre.com.
For more information on Eclipse's 2011 Naomi Wallace Season, visit http://www.eclipsetheatre.com/.

Industry Ticket Offers

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek - Eclipse Theatre at The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. is offering $10 industry tickets for August 19, 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, call 773-404-7336 or visit http://www.eclipsetheatre.com/. Use code word "INDUSTRY"

Yellowman - Greenetree Productions at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, is offering $10 industry tickets to performances September 14 - 17. For tickets call 773.327.5252 or go to www.stage773.com and use code LEAGUE.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Be Free

October is just around the corner, and that means it's time for Free Night of Theater. Chicago is once again participating in the national audience development initiative taking place October 1 through 31, and if you have a production running during that time it's not too late for you to sign-up. We're switching to a new ticket distribution system this year developed in LA called the Enter-to-Win system, and we're really excited about it because we believe that it will be better at helping theatres attract new patrons and actually getting them in the doors. The program can be flexible to meet your needs and has demonstrated a successful track record of turning Free Night patrons into returning paying customers. Last year more than 50 Chicago area theatres participated, giving away more than 5,000 tickets during the month of October. If you are interested in participating or have any questions please contact ben@chicagoplays.com.

On the Move

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre has announced its Executive Director, Jim Jarvis, will be stepping down from his position on October 28, 2011. Jarvis, who has been with the organization for over 8 years and has served as the Executive Director for over 3, is leaving in hopes of spending more time with his family.

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre announces Adam Webster has joined the company as general manager. He assumes responsibility for the Rogers Park-based theatre's finance, operating and administrative functions. Adam founded the side project, a theatre company located in the Rogers Park neighborhood, in 2000. He has since managed the day-to-day administrative and artistic operations of that company, producing more than 60 shows. He continues to serve as its artistic director.

After 13 wonderful years, Juliet Wilson Trieloff has had to resign as Showcase House Manager for The Theatre School at DePaul University because of her full-time job.

pH Productions is pleased to announce that Brett Mannes has been named its new Executive Director. Brett is a company member who had previously served as Marketing Director from 2009-2011. Replacing Brett as Marketing Director will be repertory member Mary Walsh, who will worked in tandem with company member Steve Hund. Steve has been appointed to the newly created PR Director.

Space Availability at Stage773

Stage773 has space! Fully renovated Northside theatre space available for November/December at Stage773. Mainstage 148 seat theatre in great location near public transportation comes with lighting package, full box office and marketing assistance. Contact Jill Valentine at (773) 929-7367 x229 for details.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Inconceivable Theatre Seeks Play Submissions

Inconceivable Theatre seeks submissions of new, full length plays inspired by classic works for our 2012 season as well as future productions, readings and workshops. Ideal scripts for our company should tell a vibrant, original story while offering fresh insight into the themes explored by the inspiring work and extending its relevance to a contemporary audience. These scripts will offer opportunities for innovative story telling without demanding extensive technical means. An excellent example of the type of work we look to produce is our current production, The Trojan War; or, How one BAD Apple Spoiled the World by Jessica Puller, running through August 29 at the Apollo Studio Theatre.

The inspiring work must be CLEARLY within the public domain. We define classic works to include stories, texts, music and art that have stood the test of time and become part of our common cultural inheritance. We especially look to work with Chicago based playwrights.

To submit your work, please email the full script to our literary manager, Tony Dobrowolski, at tony@inconceivabletheatre.org. Please visit our website, www.inconceivabletheatre.org, to view and follow our submission guidelines included on the “Work with Us” page. Although we are pleased to accept submissions of appropriate new works at any time, the submission deadline for consideration to be given full production in our 2012 season is December 1, 2011.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Space Opportunity with Polarity Ensemble Theatre

Itinerant Companies: Polarity Ensemble Theatre is working toward building out a new performance venue (under 99 seats). Itinerant companies who might be interested in renting space or becoming a resident company, please contact us. Read more at http://petheatre.com/howard.host.html

Thursday, August 11, 2011

On Space

We co-sponsored the Chicago Theatre Anti-Conference with Theater Wit this week. Good times. There were some stand-out sessions but the best part, as always, was the networking. I hate to call it networking, I hate networking, I like hanging out. But, I got to meet some people I didn’t know and I got to have drinks with some old friends. I guess it’s the same thing.

One of our most pressing issues and one that we talked about at the conference is the one of space. I hear it time and again. This weekend I heard one theatre say they spend 85% of their annual budget on space. Crazy. I heard some other artists who are doing site specific work say that they chose to do that work partly as a reaction to the issue. They didn’t want to have to spend all their energy worrying about how they were going to pay for space. Itinerant companies have trouble finding audiences because their audiences never know where they are going to be.

I think in some ways “storefront” theatre was created as a reaction to the issue of space, but it was more about not being able to get an audience for the kind of work they wanted to do in a big house. Now we have an audience but we don’t have enough theatres of the kind we need. Oy.

I have heard very few workable solutions to the issue and would love to hear from anyone who has heard of something that works. Or anyone who has tried something that hasn’t worked but from which you may have learned something. Ideas??

Deb

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Industry Ticket Offer - Correction

A Walk in the Woods - TimeLine Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont is offering $17 discounted industry preview tickets on August 18 -20, at 8PM and August 21 at 6PM. For tickets call 773.975.8150 or click here. Use code INDUSTRY.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Industry Ticket Offer

The Student Prince - Light Opera Works at Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson in Evanston, is offering half-price industry tickets on August 18 and 24 at 2 p.m., and August 20 and 26 at 8 p.m. For tickets call 847-869-6300 or visit www.LightOperaWorks.com and use code "drink." Tickets must be purchased in advance. No door sales.

Winter Performance Space Availability at City Lit

City Lit Theater has 9 weeks of Prime Time space available for rent from Dec 5, 2011-Feb 12, 2012. If you are interested in some or all of these weeks, please contact Brian for details and rates at 773-293-3682 or at bpastor@citylit.org.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

On Klout

I sometimes have a lot of trouble coming up with ideas for this blog – not always – sometimes. When I type in theatre ideas into Google, and you can imagine how that goes…A couple of hours ago I started poking around looking at what other people are talking about and I came across a post from someone who was decrying the idea of scoring influence with Klout scores and PeerIndex and talking about how prospective employers might see him as a media failure. Huh – what’s he talking about…so…after I registered the League and Hot Tix and myself and figured out all our scores and what they might mean – here I am. Talking about Klout scores and who cares about them? As far as I can tell, it’s a ranking based on how much interaction there is on your twitter and facebook pages. Seems like it would be crazy easy to inflate those if you really wanted to. Apparently if you have enough “klout” they send you free stuff to tweet about. The above mentioned blogger got a coupon for a free sandwich.

Anyway…it got me thinking about the scores. I think there was a book that I didn’t read that was about how we all walk around displaying our scores. Or maybe it was a dream. If you go on klout.com you can see everyone’s score – but there are some distinctions – for instance a lot of people with high scores are “consistent and focused,” whereas HotTix is “creating and broad” I don’t know how they draw those distinctions.

I don’t exactly know how I feel about it, but I guess we do need to assess the effectiveness of our social media messages. I’m just hoping that I’ve said Klout enough in this blog to get a coupon for a free sandwich.

Klout,
Deb

On the Move

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce Jacob G. Padrón will join their artistic staff as Associate Producer and Aaron Carter will become the company's new Literary Manager. Padrón will play a key role in supporting productions in Steppenwolf's Garage Series including First Look Repertory of New Work, Garage Rep and NEXT UP, as well as other ancillary programming. Carter will be instrumental in reviewing and cultivating news plays for the Steppenwolf stage, as well as various aspects of audience engagement including post-show discussions, podcasts and the Steppenwolf blog.

Next Theatre Company is pleased to announce Jon Arndt has been named its new managing director. Arndt previously served as Business Manager for Chicago Children's Theatre and Managing Director for Circle Theatre. Arndt begins August 8. Jim Davis, who has been interim managing director, is returning to his full time position as production manager.

Northlight Theatre announced L. Corwin Christie as their new Marketing Associate. Corwin is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's Masters in Arts Management program. As a graduate student she served as the Marketing Director at Future Tenant, a laboratory art space in Pittsburgh. She also held the position of Social Media Assistant at the Center for Arts Management and Technology, and is an active blogger on contemporary issues of technology and the non-profit arts world.

Oracle Productions announced Ben Fuchsen is being promoted to the position of Executive Producer for the company and Max Truax as the new Artistic Director. This will conclude Truax's term as Outreach Director for the company. The company is also excited to announce the placement of Company Member Stephanie Polt as Company Manager, in addition to Amy Hopkins as Company Production Manager and Sam Newport as Technical Director. Additionally, Oracle welcomes its newest company member, Sarah Pretz.

Babes With Blades Theatre Company announced that Leigh Barrett has accepted the position of Artistic Director. She succeeds Stephanie Repin, who will remain an ensemble member. Barrett has been producing, designing, and stage managing on the Chicago theatre scene since 1989. As a company member of Stage Left Theatre (where she is currently a member emeritus) and Plasticene, she has developed a passion for creating new works.

Stage Left Theatre announced that Lacey Holmes will assume the position of Managing Director. Lacey Holmes' experience includes audience services at Steppenwolf Theater, Broadway in Chicago, Theater on the Lake and Writers 'Theater. She also served as Contract Associate at Actor's Equity for two years. Lacey received her B.A. Degree in Theater Arts from Alfred University, Alfred, New York and her Masters of Arts Management Degree from Columbia College Chicago.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Halcyon Theatre seeks Picnic Table and Cross

Halcyon Theatre is in need of a picnic table and a big cross that is neon or can be fitted with neon lights for their production of Family Devotions that opens next Thursday. Contact jenn@halcyontheatre.org.

Industry Ticket Offers

1001 - Collaboraction in the Flat Iron Arts Building, 1575 N Milwaukee, is offering $15 industry tickets for the entire run July 28 - August 28. Email boxoffice@collaboraction.org to reserve your tickets. Visit http://www.collaboraction.org/ or call 312.226.9633 for more information and to purchase your tickets.

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek - Eclipse Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. is offering $10 industry tix on August 4th and 5th at 7:30 p.m. Bring a headshot/resume, business card, or mention "industry" at the box office. For reservations call 773-404-7336. http://www.eclipsetheatre.com/ for more info.

Space Availability at the side project

the side project in East Rogers Park has Sept/Oct rental availability. Exact dates negotiable. Contact Adam at adam@thesideproject.net for rates/details. Planning ahead? Winter 2012 offnights and Summer 2012 also available!