The 10 essays in this volume describe the rise and proliferation of improvised theatre in Chicago, discussing specific venues and other makeshift practices from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries, such as private homes, public parks, and theatre institutions. Theatre researchers from the US explore theatre after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, including the Midway Plaisance of the Great Columbian Exposition of 1893, the 57th Street Artist Colony, and the Fine Arts Building on South Michigan Avenue; how theatre movements in Chicago in the middle of the 20th century addressed definitions of ethnicity and race in the city, as well as the transitions between spaces meant for theatre and performance and those converted into use, with discussion of the Goodman Theatre stage at the Art Institute of Chicago, the production by the Chicago Negro Unit of the Federal Theatre Project of Theodore Ward's Big White Fog, the history of ImprovOlympic's development in Chicago, and the Kingston Mines Theatre and the Body Politic Theatre transforming a trolley barn, bowling alley, and slicing machine workshop into performance venues; and the role of itinerancy, including the founding of Teatro Vista, the work of Theaster Gates, and the Chicago Home Theater Festival. The book ends with an epilogue on Chicago theatre and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social uprising about racial inequality in 2020. Annotation ©2021 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
This book brings together leading historians on the history of theater and performance in Chicago. The essays theorize a regional theater aesthetic that is inherently makeshift and marginal, reflecting the city’s segregation and exposing the transgressive possibilities of performance.
Since Chicago’s founding, theater has blossomed in the city’s makeshift spaces, from taverns to parks, living rooms to storefronts. Makeshift Chicago Stages brings together leading historians to share the history of theater and performance in the Second City. The essays collected here theorize a regional theater history and aesthetic that are inherently improvisational, rough-and-tumble, and marginal, reflecting the realities of a hypersegregated city and its neighborhoods. Space and place have contributed to Chicago’s reputation for gritty, ensemble-led work, part of a makeshift ethos that exposes the policies of the city and the transgressive possibilities of performance.
This book examines the rise and proliferation of Chicago’s performance spaces, which have rooted the city’s dynamic, thriving theater community. Chapters cover well-known, groundbreaking, and understudied theatrical sites, ensembles, and artists, including the 1893 Columbian Exposition Midway Plaisance, the 57th Street Artist Colony, the Fine Arts Building, the Goodman Theatre, the Federal Theatre Project, the Kingston Mines and Body Politic Theaters, ImprovOlympics (later iO), Teatro Vista, Theaster Gates, and the Chicago Home Theater Festival. By putting space at the center of the city’s theater history, the authors in Makeshift Chicago Stages spotlight the roles of neighborhoods, racial dynamics, atypical venues, and borders as integral to understanding the work and aesthetics of Chicago’s artists, ensembles, and repertoires, which have influenced theater practices worldwide. Featuring rich archival work and oral histories, this anthology will prove a valuable resource for theater historians, as well as anyone interested in Chicago’s cultural heritage.
