In lonely moments, it’s comforting to know there’s an enthusiastic guy at the end of the phone line who wonders if you know the name of the movie you’d like to see and if you are capable of pressing “1.” On bleak nights, I’ve found comfort in touch-toning through the menus of Moviefone, wondering if I could make it to Evanston before that 9:45 p.m. screening, or–when things gets really rough–listening to what’s playing on a Tuesday afternoon at Gurnee Mills, just because I can.
I’ve often wondered why someone hasn’t set up the same kind of service for the theater. There are many fine Internet arts listings sites in Chicago (including the Tribune’s metromix.com), but to the best of my knowledge none ever has allowed the potential theatergoer to pick up the phone, say the name of the play they’d like to see and find out where and when it’s playing and for how much. Nor could one find the nearest theater with a show tonight.
Now you can. Beginning Friday, a Chicago actor named Marty Higgenbotham is beginning a new phone service with the number 800-STAGE411 that uses voice-recognition technology to allow searches by play or theater. If only to provide an address to a poor sap stuck in traffic, it seems like a smart idea.
Higgenbotham is a Chicago actor turned theatrical entrepreneur. After several years on Chicago stages (most notably at the American Theater Co.), Higgenbotham founded something called The Stage Channel, a Web site (www.stagechannel.com) with a variety of content dedicated to Chicago theater and featuring video clips from current productions.
Plenty of people have tried something similar in the past, but usually find that those hoped-for sponsors are not forthcoming and that the perennially-impoverished Chicago theater is not the money-spinner they had hoped.
In Higgenbotham’s case, he makes most of his money from shooting B-roll footage of productions that theaters can then try to get placed on television. As with the archival shoots that most theaters want of every show, Higgenbotham has quickly become the local go-to guy when it comes to capturing Chicago theater on video. His client list includes virtually every big theater in town.
But this new venture is something different. “We had all this [theater] data, so I went in and wrote a program so people could access it by phone,” Higgenbotham said. “No one has to pay, and no one has to be a member of anything.”
I got access to the service a few days early and tried it out for an hour or so. I was impressed–although not everything worked. The system understood me–weird accent and all–most of the time. And I quickly found full details on two shows I have admired: “Damage Control” at Noble Fool and “Some Americans Abroad” at Remy Bumppo. But when I tried to search by theater, I got stuck in an endless loop of error messages. The current show at Prop Thtr didn’t seem to be in the system. And I was chagrined to discover a lack of curtain times–which is how I got hooked on Moviefone.
I called Higgenbotham last week. “We’re fixing the glitches,” he said. “And, frankly, the database depends on who is sending us information. To some people out there, I’m still this Chicago actor guy.”
That will change fast if this thing catches on–as it deserves to do. Earlier this week, Higgenbotham and his staff of four had added performance times to the database, and most of the glitches seemed to be gone.
Now if they could only warm up that frigid computer voice a little. I suggest the casual dude who works for United Airlines. I talk to him a lot.
Grand reopenings
There’s a happy ending to the recent story of small Chicago theaters being closed down by the city for the lack of a Public Place of Amusement License. With one exception, they’ve all either reopened or are getting close.
TimeLine reopened last weekend with a production of Steven Dietz’s “Paragon Springs.” Two others will reopen shortly: the Artistic Home and the Profiles Theatre. There seems to be only one net loss: The improv-based Playground Theatre has abandoned its venue at 3321 N. Lincoln Ave. (which now sports a big “For Rent” sign) and will take over the former WNEP Theatre at the corner of Halsted Street and Belmont Avenue. Permit pending.
`Joan’ and friends
Lookingglass ensemble member Joy Gregory is one of the writers on the hit network show “Joan of Arcadia,” wherein the title character undergoes various missions from a benevolent God. To the amusement of the 10 people who watch that show and go to the Lookingglass Theatre, Gregory has taken to inserting the names of her fellow Lookingglass ensemble members into her scripts for the show. So far, Laura Eason has shown up on the show (although only in name) and, in another recent episode, Heidi Stillman was trying out to be a cheerleader.
