The lights went on again in Rogers Park’s historic Howard Theater, shuttered in darkness for 20 years. Thanks to Tom Tresser, the director of cultural development for Peoples Housing, and a crew of community volunteers, the theater now functions as a community arts center.
Peoples Housing, a not-for-profit organization based in East Rogers Park, took over the Howard Theater, 1621 W. Howard St., in 1991. Tresser, former managing director of the Pegasus Players and former president of the non-profit Greater Chicago Citizens for the Arts, joined the group in 1993. He developed the idea of the arts center, reaching out to the artists and artisans in the neighborhood and bringing them together at a meeting to get their input and help create programs.
Evan McCann was at that first meeting. Though not an artisan (she’s an adminstrative assistant at Whirlwind Performance Company), she knew Tresser from earlier days when she worked with him at Pegasus.
“I was walking down Howard Street on my way home from work one day when I saw my old friend standing in front of the theater. I said `There’s nothing going on here!’ Tresser answered: `Ah, yes there is. We`re opening the Howard Theater. We want to turn it into a community arts center. Would you be willing to volunteer your time?’ “
McCann says that at that first meeting were 30 arts-oriented people from such disciplines as film, painting, circus training and writing. “We exchanged ideas and dispersed into areas of interest. I originally branched off into the area of performing arts. In my group was Oba William King, a storyteller-actor, who came up with this wonderful idea for storytelling classes and open mike night, where neighborhood children and adults could display their talents.
“The twice-montly event, run by Oba for the last nine months, is perhaps the most popular thing that has taken place at the theater,” says McCann. “Children of all ages performed on the stage. It just exploded. Watching the open mike nights grow and blossom–and to see the community involved, not just the artists–has been very satisfyig to me.”
On open mike nights, McCann takes ticket money, helps keep order, gives out information and talks up the organization. She says that she considers herself sort of an informal press agent.
Some 30 volunteers regularly come to help out at events. Initially, volunteers conducted classes in, among other activities, art, drama, drumming and mime.
“We couldn’t have gotten started without volunteers,” says Tresser, “and we still need them, especially parents for new ideas and to help keep the kids in order.”
McCann would like to see more things happening at the center. There are daily classes and live variety shows on Saturday but, she says “it would be great to see a regular schedule of performances where people would start coming in and pay to see them–and concessions added.”
The permanent stage needs to be renovated; right now, only the front of the theater is renovated, with a temporary stage in the lobby. McCann admits that there are a lack of funds. And there have been setbacks, such as acts of minor vandalism. But that hasn’t discouraged anyone.
Tresser hopes to set up a sports camp this summer with Kiwanis, and Peoples Housing will have a crafts cart stationed at Navy Pier all summer.
“For a long time, I had wanted to see something positive coming out of the community,” says McCann. “Gangs are a serious problem here, and you see many of the children in this area being drawn into gangs. There had to be something else to redirect them. I’m amazed at the talent I see at the open mike nights. I’ve seen a known drug dealer and a homeless person get up and recite really good and positive poems. It gives me a very warm and rewarding feeling.”
To volunteer or donate funds, call Tom Tresser at 312-262-5900, ext. 125.
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The Chicagoland Radio Information Service, Inc. (CRIS radio), the non-profit reading service for the blind written about in a previous Friends in Deed column, is available on Chicago Cable Access Network Television’s channels 19 and 21. Check your local cable listing for times.
