The Chicago Theatre Company, which has been operating from the basement of a South Side community center for 20 years, has received a $50,000 grant to smooth its possible move to the DuSable Museum of African-American History.
Spokesmen for the museum and theater company said Thursday that plans being discussed call for the troupe to present a three-play season in the museum next spring and then take up occupancy in 2007, when a planned expansion of the DuSable is slated for completion.
Douglas Alan-Mann, the Equity-affiliated company’s artistic and production director, stressed that discussions are continuing and no agreement has been reached.
The Joyce Foundation of Chicago provided the grant to facilitate the move.
DuSable spokesman Raymond Ward said the plan envisages the troupe using the 500-seat theater in the main museum building at 740 E. 56th Pl. He said it may get office space in the $25 million, 61,000-square-foot wing to be fashioned from a nearby Chicago Park District maintenance barn. The troupe is known for its solid productions of new works by black writers. The troupe’s home has been the Parkway Community House, 500 E. 67th St.
