The last few months have been busy ones with theaters announcing new venues: if all goes well, American Blues, Steep, Northlight, and TimeLine will all be producing in their new homes sometime in the next couple of years.
But the long COVID shutdown of 2020-21 also took away some venues that had provided rentals to the large and vital band of itinerant theater companies in Chicago.
Stage 773 (formerly the Theatre Building Chicago and one of the longest-running rental facilities in town, as well as the home for the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival) announced a year ago that they were reimagining their Belmont Avenue digs as an immersive experiential space, described by executive director Jill Valentine to the Tribune‘sChris Jones as “Willy Wonka meets Burning Man meets the Museum of Modern Art.” Stage 773 promises that WHIM is coming. What is WHIM? According to their website, “It’s more than a destination, it’s an exploration of creativity and inspiration where the line between artist, performer, and audience is blurred. The inner workings of the creative brain are explored and translated into reality for your play and enjoyment.” All righty then! But in the meantime, the four stages that were available as rentals in the venue are gone.
So too is the Royal George on North Halsted, right across from the ever-expanding Steppenwolfverse; they told their existing renters, including Vicki Quade of the popular Late Nite Catechism franchise, that they had to move out last spring. (Quade is now producing at the Greenhouse Theater Center, where longtime resident company MPAACT is opening their first show since shutdown, Pulled Punches, this coming weekend.)
The Athenaeum, a longtime go-to for rentals in Lakeview next door to owner Saint Alphonsus Church, has been reimagined as well; it’s now The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture. According to a press release last October, “The mission of the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture is to invite people into encounters with beauty and to revitalize the great Catholic tradition of the arts from one of Chicago’s most unique, religious, artistic, and civic buildings.” They are still offering rentals, but their website notes that those will be “curated” by the theater. Though some dance companies have performed there, I haven’t seen any announcements of upcoming theater productions.
