On a behind-the-scenes excursion at the Merchandise Mart, North Side resident Alma Abrams noted, “I love going to places that my friends will never get a chance to see-it makes me smarter, and it’s fun to show off where I’ve been.”
Such outings can range from stepping backstage at the Shubert Theatre and meeting the stars of “The Secret Garden” to matching strides with an elephant at the Brookfield Zoo Pachyderm House, where you’ll meet a grande dame named Affie.
At the main branch of the U.S. Post Office, tours offer tips on how you can help your letters to move faster. And you can go buggy counting thousands of insect specimens behind the scenes at the Field Museum of Natural History.
So follow these tour guides into the land beyond public places.
BACKSTAGE VIEW
Discovering the magic of theater is like watching a magician tell how to pull a rabbit out of a hat. At the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St., families will learn the secrets of “The Secret Garden” after 3 p.m. performances on Jan. 30 and Feb. 6.
“The very essence of theater is to sweep the audience away with an illusion, and children even more than adults are curious about how it all happens,” says the show’s Tony Award-winning set designer and co-producer, Heidi Landesman.
“Adults will say, `Fine, they fooled me, let’s beat the traffic home.’ But the kids don’t give in so easily; they want to understand it all.”
Backstage tours will be given by stage managers. Participants will meet members of the cast and observe how the Victorian pop-up book set comes to life.
To take part in “Behind-the-Scenes at the Secret Garden,” there’s a $3 fee (in addition to the ticket price of $27.50-$52). Reservations are required; call 312-977-1717.
Backstage tours are also offered at the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Highlights include the prop shop and explanations over hammering and drilling while sets are being built. These tours are free. Reservations are required; call 312-702-7242.
Because many smaller theaters don’t have much of a backstage area to see, often the backstage comes on stage after performances for discussions with the actors. The director and the playwright may participate too. The Court Theatre has been offering such post-show conversations since 1981.
Rebecca Manery, the Court Theatre’s arts and education director, explains, “In Shakespeare’s time questions about the show might be asked by audience members during the show-there was no Fourth Wall. Somehow, I don’t think the actors would go for that style today. So, we wait until the show ends.”
Manery says that typically one-third of the audience will stick around to ask questions after the show. Discussions will be held after the 7:30 p.m. performances of “A Delicate Balance” on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3. Call 312-753-4472.
Aside from ticket price, there is no extra charge for any area post-show discussion. Here’s a sampling of additional theaters that also feature talks after performances.
Next Theatre Company, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. Discussions after the 8 p.m. Feb. 10 and 17 performances of “The Destiny of Me.” 708-475-1875.
Shakespeare Repertory, at the Ruth Page Auditorium, 1016 N. Dearborn St. Discussions after the 6 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 p.m. March 2 and 1:30 p.m. March 10 performances of “Measure for Measure.” 312-642-2273.
Stage Left Theatre, at the Organic Greenhouse, 3319 N. Clark St. Discussions after all 7 p.m. Sunday performances. 312-327-5588.
Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Discussions after all 8 p.m. performances Tuesdays and Thursdays. 312-335-1650.
Touchstone Theatre, 2851 N. Halsted St. Discussions after the 2:30 p.m. Feb. 6 performance of “The Fantasticks.” 312-404-4700.
Victory Gardens Theatre, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Discussions after all 8 p.m. Wednesday performances. 312-871-3000.
In addition, the International Theatre Festival of Chicago, May 24-June 19, will offer discussions after many performances. For a complete schedule, call 312-664-FEST(3378).
WILD TOURS
Backstage in the Pachyderm House at the Brookfield Zoo, 11-year-old Aaron Montgomery of Homewood pets a black rhinoceros. “I can’t believe this; it’s great,” he says. “I’m surprised the skin is soft.”
“Inside Pachyderm House” is one of several Backstage Tours offered at the Brookfield Zoo, 1st Avenue at 31st Street, Brookfield.
The tour follows assistant lead keeper Joe Myszkowski along the inside rail around the exhibits-where visitors are usually prohibited. They meet Barney the Brazilian tapir. Myszkowski jumps into the exhibit and rubs Barney’s tummy as if he were a giant puppy. Barney looks dejected-as much as a tapir can-when Myszkowski leaves to introduce the group to a belligerent pair of Nile hippopotamuses and a sleepy pygmy hippo.
Everyone gets to pet Brooke the black rhino, as her 3 1/2-month-old baby, Kijito, stands by to oohs and ahhs from the group.
However, the real highlight of the tour is visiting Affie the African elephant inside her home. Visitors walk through the staging area where the keepers work and right up to the 10,800-pound pachyderm. “They weigh her on the police department truck scales,” Myszkowski says.
Myszkowski demonstrates how the foot pads are trimmed (Montgomery takes a trimmed slice of elephant foot pad home as a souvenir), he reminisces about some of the famous elephants at Brookfield and he explains how to train an elephant-which is a handy thing to know.
Everyone on the tour has a chance to feed Affie a slice of bread. Then, Affie obligingly lies down on her side, and one by one every member of the tour group has a chance to pet her. No one declines this chance.
“Inside Pachyderm House” is offered Jan. 30 and Feb. 20. Other backstage expeditions include “Journey to Habitat Africa,” Feb. 5 and 19; “Safari into the Fragile Kingdom,” Feb. 5; “The Aquatic Birds,” Feb. 6; and “Australian Walkabout,” Feb. 19. All programs begin with an 8:30 a.m. breakfast, followed by the tour, which concludes at about 10:30 a.m. The $20 admission ($11 for children 8 to 15 years old) includes admittance to the zoo grounds for the day. For reservations, call 708-485-0263, ext. 361.
How do you hold a gorilla? Veterinarians at the Lincoln Park Zoo, 2200 N. Cannon Drive, explain the lowland gorilla health maintenance program in a family workshop called “Dr. in the Zoo” on Jan. 30 and Feb. 20. The zoo’s Kroc Animal Hospital is the destination for this tour. If animals are being cared for at the hospital at the time of the tour, visitors will learn about their cases and view the patients.
Vets will talk about the surgery room and how to capture unmanageable residents, ranging from snakes to primates.
Another Lincoln Park Zoo family workshop is “Zookeepers and their Animal Friends: Penguins” on Feb. 6. Keeper Norah Farnham talks about the cold-weather lovers from beak to feet.
Admission to either “Dr. in the Zoo” or the visit to the Penguin/Seabird House is $7.50. Each tour is from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Reservations are required; call 312-294-4649.
Only about 1 per cent the museum’s collection of bugs is on display at the Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive. However, participants in “Behind-the-Scenes with the Division of Insects” on Feb. 4 will see enough creepy crawlies to go buggy.
It’s a bug-lover’s paradise, with thousands of specimens to study in the off-exhibit insect offices. There are even examples of extinct bugs whose remains are trapped in amber, just as they were depicted in the book and film versions of “Jurassic Park.”
Bugs are also the stars of “Behind-the-Scenes with the Division of Mammals” on March 25. This time, living, six-legged ravenous insects can be seen working at the museum. Their job is to clean animal bones that will be used for displays.
Both of these museum tours are $9 (children are required to be grade 3 or up). Reservations are required at 312-922-9410.
MISCELLANEOUS TOURS
“Here’s the sleigh-style bed Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte used in (the upcoming) `I Love Trouble,’ ” says Merchandise Mart tour director Jeanne Klauber. “You can watch the movies and predict what the new styles are going to be. Or you can simply visit showrooms at the Mart.”
However, the display rooms at the Mart are closed to the public, unless you embark on a 90-minute tour. After an architectural overview and a history of the Mart, Klauber says, “Follow me to the forbidden zone” as she leads the group through several display areas.
One room features Adam Tihany chairs used in “Indecent Proposal” and “Husbands and Wives.” It’s explained why designer Tihany endearingly called these “Marney” chairs. “He names his chairs for his past amours,” Klauber says, as she points out the “Gertrude” and the “Rebecca” chairs.
“Here’s the bed Goldie Hawn in `The Housesitter’ spent so much time in,” says Klauber. She points out the iron framework and the iron headboard. “It wasn’t back in style when the movie was made, but it is now,” she adds.
Tours at the Mart meet in the lobby at the visitor information desk and are offered at noon Mondays through Fridays. Admission is $7 ($6 for students over 16 and seniors). For further information, call 312-644-4664.
You can learn how this story went to press and see how the Friday Section and other sections are packaged into the newspaper on the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center tours, 777 W. Chicago Ave. All 10 presses roar, so each person on the tour is provided with what looks like a handheld radio so the explanations can be heard. A brief film is also screened. Tours are free and are offered at 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Reservations are required (children are required to be 10 years old or older); call 312-222-2116.
This could be the only time you visit the main branch of the U.S. Post Office, 433 W. Van Buren St., and don’t have to wait in a line. Free tours are presented at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
The tour guide shows how automated equipment assists in the processing of the mail. There’s also a display of the extensive main branch stamp collection. Reservations are required; call 312-765-3035.
Why are all those traders wearing technicolor coats? You’ll find out on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Tours, 30 S. Wacker Drive. These free tours are at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon Mondays through Fridays. Participants will be within earshot of all the action despite the relative isolation of a glass viewing booth. For further information, call 312-930-8249.
The Board of Trade, 141 W. Jackson Blvd., also offers free tours at 9:15 a.m., 10 a.m., and then continuing every half hour (the last one is at 12:30 p.m.) Mondays through Fridays. After a brief film, tour groups observe traders from the observation windows. For those who like hearing as well as seeing all the action, on the 12:30 p.m. tour the microphones are turned on. For further information, call 312-435-3625 after 1:15 p.m.
The Chicago Cultural Center, at Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue, presents free behind-the-scenes tours at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Highlights include the newly renovated Sydney Yates Renaissance-style gallery and the Tiffany glass dome and Tiffany mosaics inside Preston Bradley Hall. For details, call 312-744-7648.
ARCHITECTURE TOURS
By their very definition, tours offered by the Chicago Architecture Foundation inside the Clarke and Glessner Houses take you where real people once lived. Aside from architectural information, tour guides offer behind-the-scenes anecdotes about what life inside the homes was like.
The Clarke and Glessner Houses are at 1800 S. Prairie Ave., and tours are $5 for one house or $8 for both houses. (Tours of both houses are $1 on Wednesdays.) For a schedule, call 312-944-3432.
The Architecture Foundation also presents tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Ave., Oak Park. “Wright lived in the home for 20 years,” says Architecture Foundation docent and Wright historian Lyman Shepherd. “Naturally, the home has been renovated, and you can no longer see water damage, but we’ll point out where the kids had water fights and where the roof leaked.”
Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio tours are offered for $9, noon to 2 p.m. on Sundays only through February. Call 312-944-3432.
The Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler architecture of the Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Congress Pkwy., is the subject of an insider’s view of the landmark theater. Tours are $4 ($2 seniors, students and children under 12), and are offered by appointment only. Call 312-431-2354.
