Despite this city’s oft-professed love and affection for its little theaters, we’ve never given a lot of money to storefronts. Unlike, say, Atlanta–where small theaters have benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in special grants over the last few years–Chicago’s troupes have had to go it pretty much alone. But in recent months, a potent new funding source has emerged: off-Loop alumni.
Just like Ivy League schools that love to hit up their high-earning former students, off-Loop theaters are beginning to tap theater artists who cut their teeth in Chicago before becoming high-earners elsewhere.The actor John Mahoney, for example, has long been a quiet but important supporter of tiny Chicago troupes–especially the Circle Theatre in Forest Park and the Oak Park Shakespeare Festival. The most recent troupe to benefit is City Lit Theater–a venerable but lately rather moribund little theater that plies its trade in Edgewater. Thanks to the largesse of screenwriter John Logan (“The Aviator”), City Lit has been able to retire a deficit in the $40,000 range and hire Terry McCabe as artistic director.
It’s probably not overstating the case to say that Logan saved that theater. City Lit has been hanging on by a thread for the last couple of years–and its shows have reflected its lacking budget. But next season looks promising, with McCabe, a director with a long history of decent work in Chicago, at the helm and a world premiere by Chicago playwright Douglas Post.
“Much of my career is due to Terry,” Logan says from Los Angeles (where he reportedly makes as much as $1 million per screenplay). “He supported me as a starving playwright. This is a way to say thank you to him and I also remember City Lit very fondly from my days in Chicago.”
A lot of people have fond reminiscences–few write checks.
Logan–whose affection for the Chicago theater is palpable–is also a major donor to the Victory Gardens, including to its Biograph Theatre renovation campaign. “Victory Gardens,” Logan says, “is my home.”
According to Victory Gardens artistic director Dennis Zacek, actor William Petersen is another a “longtime and generous donor.”
In terms of helping a theater get a new building, Logan and Peterson are following the lead of David Schwimmer, whose donations helped Lookingglass (a troupe he co-founded in 1988) move to a new space a couple of years ago.
“Supporting new work is important,” Logan says. “People with the ability to help should do so.” Of course, support doesn’t have to come in the form of money. The buoyant Chicago Improv Festival–which is about to embark on its closing weekend–shamelessly trades on the good will of former Chicago improv stars, enticing those who have made it to come back and pay homage to their roots. Without these out-of-town stars and their ability to pull in crowds, CIF wouldn’t survive.
The best audience at the CIF last weekend was for writer-director Adam McKay and the cast of his film, “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” McKay came back to Chicago because of his affection for ImprovOlympic and its executive director, Charna Halpern.”Charna let me sleep on her couch for two days,” McKay said from the stage last weekend. “I remember that.”
This fall, Halpern’s improv troupe will celebrate its 25th anniversary. She has rented the Chicago Theatre for a night and the planned performers include Mike Myers, Andy Richter, Andy Dick and Rachel Dratch. They won’t be paid. They’re coming to give back.
There are perils, of course. Theaters that don’t keep up with their alums often cannot solicit a check out of the blue. Rick Cleveland, a writer for HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” says he recently re-connected with the American Theatre Company because artistic director Damon Kiely called to chat about projects instead of just asking for a donation. Sure, there are still plenty of alumni who don’t give and others who give anonymously to avoid the publicity (and, presumably, the arrival of more fundraising letters). But Chicago theater alums rapidly are becoming more important to this city than the professional philanthropists.
Much of this can be attributed to the strong sense of community the Chicago theater scene fosters. Not every city can say the same.
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CJones5@tribune.com
