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Victory Gardens Theater
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Victory Gardens Theater
Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Gordon, Cordis Heard, Roberta Maguire, Mac McGuinnes, June Pyskaček, and David Rasche each fronted $1,000 to start a company outside the Chicago Loop and Gordon donated the light board of his Organic Theater Company. The theater's first production, The Velvet Rose, by Stacy Myatt, premiered on October 9, 1974.
The company's initial home was the Northside Auditorium Building, 3730 N. Clark Street in Chicago, originally a Swedish social club. Its second production—a country-western musical co-produced with commercial producers called The Magnolia Club by Jeff Berkson, John Karraker and David Karraker — was the company's first hit. Marcelle McVay was the first managing director.
In 1975, director Dennis Začek staged The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, beginning a relationship that led to Začek being named artistic director in 1977.
Key on-going collaborators worked with the company for the first time in the Clark Street space, including actor William L. Petersen, Marcelle McVay, director Sandy Shinner, and playwrights Steve Carter and Jeffrey Sweet. McVay, who is married to Začek, subsequently became managing director and Shinner later became associate artistic director.
In 1981, the success of Sweet's third play with the company, Ties, led to it being transferred to an extended run in the larger space downstairs at the Body Politic Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln. When Ties closed, the downstairs space became Victory Gardens’ new home. Upon the closure of the Body Politic in 1995, Victory Gardens acquired the whole building.
In 1989, Začek's staging of James Sherman's Beau Jest moved off-Broadway and was subsequently staged in hundreds of productions around the world.[citation needed] In 2008, Sherman released a film version of the play starring Lainie Kazan and Seymour Cassel.
In 1996, the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble was created, a coming together of a diverse group of playwrights under a producing organization, virtually unheard of in American resident theaters. Founding members Steve Carter and James Sherman were joined by Claudia Allen, Dean Corrin, Lonnie Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher as the founding members of the company's Playwrights Ensemble.
On June 3, 2001, Victory Gardens received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Winning the award made them one of five Chicago companies to be so honored, the other four being the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Lookingglass Theatre Company.
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Victory Gardens Theater
Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Gordon, Cordis Heard, Roberta Maguire, Mac McGuinnes, June Pyskaček, and David Rasche each fronted $1,000 to start a company outside the Chicago Loop and Gordon donated the light board of his Organic Theater Company. The theater's first production, The Velvet Rose, by Stacy Myatt, premiered on October 9, 1974.
The company's initial home was the Northside Auditorium Building, 3730 N. Clark Street in Chicago, originally a Swedish social club. Its second production—a country-western musical co-produced with commercial producers called The Magnolia Club by Jeff Berkson, John Karraker and David Karraker — was the company's first hit. Marcelle McVay was the first managing director.
In 1975, director Dennis Začek staged The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, beginning a relationship that led to Začek being named artistic director in 1977.
Key on-going collaborators worked with the company for the first time in the Clark Street space, including actor William L. Petersen, Marcelle McVay, director Sandy Shinner, and playwrights Steve Carter and Jeffrey Sweet. McVay, who is married to Začek, subsequently became managing director and Shinner later became associate artistic director.
In 1981, the success of Sweet's third play with the company, Ties, led to it being transferred to an extended run in the larger space downstairs at the Body Politic Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln. When Ties closed, the downstairs space became Victory Gardens’ new home. Upon the closure of the Body Politic in 1995, Victory Gardens acquired the whole building.
In 1989, Začek's staging of James Sherman's Beau Jest moved off-Broadway and was subsequently staged in hundreds of productions around the world.[citation needed] In 2008, Sherman released a film version of the play starring Lainie Kazan and Seymour Cassel.
In 1996, the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble was created, a coming together of a diverse group of playwrights under a producing organization, virtually unheard of in American resident theaters. Founding members Steve Carter and James Sherman were joined by Claudia Allen, Dean Corrin, Lonnie Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher as the founding members of the company's Playwrights Ensemble.
On June 3, 2001, Victory Gardens received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Winning the award made them one of five Chicago companies to be so honored, the other four being the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Lookingglass Theatre Company.
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