Neighborhood News: All the world’s a stage at Navy Pier’s Chicago Shakespeare Theater
While Navy Pier reigns supreme as the ultimate Chicago playground, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 East Grand Avenue, offers the Bard’s unique take on life, humor and tragedy against the backdrop of Lake Michigan.
Since 1986, the company has grown from a makeshift rooftop theater atop the old Red Lion Pub to a regional Tony and Joseph Jefferson award-winning, three-theater campus, encompassing the Courtyard Theater, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare, and The Yard. Their repertoire has grown to include far more than Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies, and their outreach to students and commitment to diversity extends far beyond Navy Pier.
From workshop to theater…
Chicago Shakespeare Theater was founded as the Chicago Shakespeare Workshop by former Artistic Director Barbara Gaines in 1986.
“Nineteen artists gathered on the rooftop of the Red Lion Pub in Lincoln Park in what would become the company’s inaugural production and spoke aloud the first words of Henry V: ‘O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention’,” recalled Gaines at her 2023 retirement, via a press release.
“My mission over these many years has been to fill the world with the humanity of Shakespeare—a writer who understands the immediacy of being human and gives us all the chance to delve into the mysteries of life.
“And that’s exactly what I believe we’ve been able to do together. I am immensely proud of all that we’ve done and deeply inspired by the thrilling possibilities ahead for Chicago Shakespeare in the decades to come.*
As Wikipedia sources tell it, a year later, they became the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory and in 1999, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. They performed their first twelve seasons in residency at the Ruth Page Theater, performing titles ranging from Hamlet and King Lear to the lesser-known Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens. Although the theater was critically lauded for its innovative approach to classic works, it was limited by the age and spatial restrictions of the Ruth Page Theater and began looking for a new performance space in the late 1990s.
To Navy Pier They Go…
Gaines and the company’s board of directors envisioned a much larger, independent facility where all forms of performance were possible. They embarked on a massive capital campaign. In October 1999, they unveiled a purpose built, seven-story, 810,000 square foot facility, housing its box office, administrative offices, and performance venues. The first performance was Monty Python’s Eric Idle reading from his novel The Road to Mars.
The 510-seat Courtyard Theater features state-of-the-art technology and acoustics, together with a versatile thrust stage and deep proscenium, that create a flexible performance space. A second theater, the 200-seat black box “Upstairs” space, is devoted to smaller productions such as The Second City’s Romeo and Juliet Musical: The People Vs. Friar Laurence, The Man Who Killed Romeo and Juliet.
Arts-in-Literacy…
Recognized as a national leader by First Lady Michelle Obama in a 2014 White House ceremony, the Theater’s arts-in-literacy programs support the work in classrooms across the region by bringing words to life onstage for tens of thousands of students each year and through a variety of professional learning opportunities for teachers.
In the Community…
Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program has fostered creative community engagement with artists across the city for more than a decade.
Award-winning…
The theater had garnered 77 Joseph Jefferson awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2008, it was the winner of the Regional Theatre Tony Award.
Currently…
Through May 26, the talented Jason Alexander(Seinfeld) makes his Chicago stage debut in a world premiere of Judgement Day at the Courtyard Theater. The Emmy and Tony winning Alexander plays Sammy Campo, a staggeringly corrupt, morally bankrupt lawyer who’s threatened with eternal damnation by a terrifying angel after a near-death experience. In a desperate attempt to redeem himself, Sammy forms an unlikely bond with a Catholic priest who is having his own crisis of faith.
For tickets and upcoming performances, click here.
And remember, as Shakespeare said in Hamlet, “The play’s the thing!”
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
