Trying To Blow Them Away

In a word: WARP! The Sci-Fi Triolgy that blew audiences away

In 1970, Paul Sills invited Stuart Gordon to move his Organic theatre from Madison, Wisconsin, to produce at the Body Politic. Thus was born the theatre that produced the sci-fi classic trilogy WARP!, the wild medical farce E.R., and the only play to have homage to Chicago Cub fans, Bleacher Bums. Written by the Organic ensemble, Bleacher Bums was based on an idea by actor Joe Mantenga and featured a young Dennis Franz.

When Gordon arrived in Chicago, he felt the scene needed some shaking up - that it had already become too safe, even stagnant. His feeling was that most theatre during this period was a waste of time, that there was too much emphasis on trying to recreate the real world on stage. He felt that the theatre should be an escape, a land of make-believe, and that it should grab people by their shirt collars and shake them up.

Sexual Perversity In Chicago was later adapted for film by Tim Kazerinsky and retitled About Last Night

Actors Organic shows often played many parts and so were forced to changed quickly, for example alternating between wild aliens and more ordinary human characters. The result was that actors did not so much create a character as assume it for a short while then transform themselves into another one. Gordon's idea was to prevent actors from becoming locked into a set mannerism or vocal character, and to prevent the actors from relying on a bag of tricks.

WARP! had such a cult following that in the 1980ies it  was adapted for comics

The plays Stuart Gordon produced changed the theatre and challenged audiences' notions about what theatre was, The Organic Theatre became legendary in Chicago's off-Loop theatre scene.

The Theatre Is A Body Politic

The Reverend Jim Shiflett

The Reverend Jim Shiflett shared the Hull-House philosophy of trying to unite communities through the arts. To that end he founded the Community Arts Foundation in 1966, funded in part by the community Renewal Society, a city based program sponsored by the United Church of Christ. Shiflett convinced the C.A.F. board of directors to buy a building that had housed a bowling alley and slicing machine company at 2257 North Lincoln Avenue, a building that had been slated for demolition.

Reverend Jim (right) and scene partner

Shiflett served as executive director of the new theatre, he hired Bill Russo and Paul Sills as its program directors. He called his new theatre the Body Politic, quoting the British theatre director Harley Granville-Barker who said: "The theatre is a body politic and the art of it a single art, though the contributions must be by many." The name stuck though no resident company would bear that name until the late 1970s. Between 1966 and 1980 a myriad of transient theatre companies would call the Body Politic home.

Paul Sills 

Actors Working on a Scene

Meanwhile, over at The Kingston Mines (the theatre not the blues club), another alumni of Hull-House theatre, Jim Jacobs and his partner Warren Casey had finished their script and score for a musical they called "Grease". It debuted in 1971 as five hour show. Jacobs and Casey expected their show to appeal to just a handful of people. However, producers Ken Waissman and Maxine Fox, seeing the commercial potential of "Grease" convinced Jacobs and Casey to shorten it and smooth out the rough edges and turn it into a Broadway style show.

"The greatest achievement of "Grease" is its perfect deadpan objectivity about everything in it: a d.a. haircut, a new guitar, a missed period, a falsetto backup group, a preposterously accurate hand-jive. It is a loving, funny museum of where we were, perhaps even, when we scream and stomp our feet at it, a gentle attempt to exorcise the parts of ourselves we left back there. A tribute to the many small, stupid things that happened to us during 'the decade when nothing happened'." -Micheal Feingold

A landmark production for Chicago's Off-Loop theatre community it was the first show to make it really big. "Grease" encouraged others to try their luck. Moreover  the success of "Grease" convinced local producers of the commercial of this new theatre market and helped to assure its continuation.

The Many Stages of James McVicker

The McVicker's Theatre in 1878 designed by Louis Sullivan

Carrying on many of the traditions established by his friend and mentor, John Rice, James Hubert McVicker became synonymous with Chicago theatre for nearly half a century.

McVicker began his career as member of Rice's acting ensemble. A character actor, he became well known for portraying country bumpkin or Yankee roles. Though his favorite part to play was that of the grave digger in "Hamlet". He soon found that he also had a talent as a producer and parted company with Rice to strike out on his own.

The first theatre to bear McVicker's name opened on November 5th, 1857 on Madison and Dearborn. His productions continued to satisfy an appetite for plays, musical, opera and variety that John Rice had only whetted.

The McVicker's interior 1903

McVicker's productions gave audiences a unique theatrical experience. They came to expect productions like, "Rip Van Winkle", "Our Governor", "The Mighty Dollar", "The Marble Heart", and "Hamlet". In an effort to prevent audiences from leaving during lengthy scene changes or double billed plays, McVicker treated patrons to variety entertainments. Short farces, popular songs, magical acts, dance performances, and even poetry readings were a few of the offerings employed to encourage audiences to remain seated during these intervals.

These diverse entertainments were witnessed by a former producer of Minstrel shows, Tony Paster who developed and expanded this format to create the kind of theatre that became known as Vaudeville.

McVicker's Vaudeville 1912

The Great Chicago Fire claimed McVicker's theatre as one of it's victims. Enlisting the aid of Louis Sullivan, McVicker replaced it with an even grander structure. In time this too would be destroed by fire and rebuilt. In total there five theatres' bearing the McVicker name. And while the building underwent many changes the location at Madison and Dearborn remained a constant. For his audiences it seemed as though as long as there was a McVicker's there would be top quality entertainment in Chicago.

John Wilkes Booth who starred as Hamlet at  the McVicker's,  however his most famous role would be that of Abraham Lincoln's assassin.

The Whole World With Three Chairs And A Hat

"The fact that we can create the whole world with three chairs and a hat is incredible. The truly fascinating thing is to get an idea in the morning and see it on the stage in the evening filtered through the actors and audience. Now that's going to be much more rewarding than Mork & Mindy." Bernard Sahlins, co-founder of The Second City

The Second City was formed in 1959, and served as a radical improvisational theater group that would forever change comedy in America.

Betty Thomas

John Belushi

Second City set up shop at 1842 North Wells and made its debut on December 6th, 1959 to an overflowing house. The company helped breathe new life into a Chicago theater scene, which at the time was largely made up of the latest touring Broadway hit or a tired old re-stageings of the classics.

George Wendt

Second City worked because it took the freeform style of the Compass Players and transformed it into a neatly packaged commercial product that was not as threatening to an audience and just entertained them.

The Compass Players and The Second City maybe most famous for helping to make careers for Severn Darden, Roger Bowen, Paul Sand, Avery Schreiber, Alan Alda, Del Close, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May. Second City alumni have gone on to write and perform for televison, theatre, and film. It has proven to be an entryway into the larger world of show business.

The Legendary Mr. Kelly's

Comedy clubs around the country like Chicago's own Mr. Kelly's owe a debt of gratitude to The Second City. 

Shelley Long

George Wendt

Act Well Your Part There All The Honor Lies

" The Hull-House Players gave plays of distinction with skill, sincerity and understanding. Mrs. Pelham, not I was the true founder of the American Little Theatre Movement."-Maurice Browne Chicago Little Theatre

In the 1890's, Hull-House founder Jane Addams saw that theatre could help her settlement cause, particularly the new plays from Europe. Of the theatre Miss Addams said: ". . .The theatre such as it was appeared to be one agency which freed the boys and girls from that destructive isolation. . .and it gave them a glimpse of that order an beauty into which even the poorest drama endeavors to restore the bewildering facts of life." She viewed theatre as a essential tool in helping new immigrants assimilate to their new country. She hired Laura Dainty Pelham a former actress who came to Chicago by way of Wisconsin, to help launch the project.

Addams concept in created the Hull-House Players was to use residents of Hull-House, in the company. Pelham would transform amateurs into a dynamic acting ensemble.

The following article written about the Hull-House Players by Elsie Weil appeared in the September 1913 issue of "Theatre Magazine": " The Hull-House Players are not amateurs. They act with a finish and artistic precision, which, as one Chicago critic said, inflicts on them the penalty as well as the privilege of being considered professionals. They are not college students entering into dramatics as a sort of lark; they are not people of comparative leisure resorting to amateur acting to fill up part of their playtime. Rather they are hard-working young folks, who have plemty of troubles and worries, some of them with families to look after, and yet who come to their acting as something that will freshen up the wilyed aspect of life for them after the daily grind. Everyone must have some interest outside of the "bread alone" struggle to keep wholesome and happy. With some it is athletics, books, traveling or cards, With these young people it is their acting, and they are satisfied to have it take up most of their spare time. They have two rehearsals a week, and just before a new production, all day rehearsals on Sunday. Their connection with the company not only provides all their amusement, but a stimulating intellectual life for them as well. They have high ideals of life and society and prefer to present those plays that deal with the serious moral and social problems of the day, such as those of Shaw, Galsworthy and Pinero."

The players were careful to blend Jane Addams social agenda with the art of the production. Under the leadership of artistic director Laura Pelham, they produced plays under the heading "Social Realism". These plays either discussed or realistically portrayed contemporary socail problems on the stage.

The innovative and often outstanding productions paved the way in Chicago for a new era in theatre. An era in which producing serious, innovative dramas that addressed the human condition would be came exceptable. Also that such productions would be popular with audiences and critics alike. So much so that the players toured their productions all over the world to great acclaim.

Members Only

To some practitioners of the Chicago's theatre in the nineteen-fifties the scene had become stale and uninspired. Venerable commercial houses like the Schubert in the Loop were increasingly relied on retreads of well tested Broadway hits. Even the lone independent theatre The Goodman, had resorted to playing it safe by trotting out tired old classics. Also at this time the only place to see professional theatre in the city was in the Loop. Which was a shame because even movie houses had branched out into the neighborhoods. If they could do it why couldn't theatre do the same? Why couldn't there be professional theatre in the neighborhood?

Enter The Playwrights Theatre Club.

The Playwrights Theatre Club, or simply Playwrights as it was known to its members, was an off shoot of The Compass Players that had failed to gel. Needing some time to rethink the Compass its founder David Shepherd along with Paul Sill, embarked on mounting traditional productions in an effort to hone their craft.

In 1951 Shepherd and Sills along with Elaine May, Mike Nichols and Barbara Harris establish a venue at Dearborn and Schiller on the cities north side. Soon another University of Chicago Alum, Edward Asner would join them. There they produced such plays as Oedipus Rex, The Trojan Women and King Lear. In order to give its self credibility Playwrights join the union thereby becoming the first Equity group to perform outside of the Loop. However the cities strict fire codes and licenses regarding the theatre would need to be dealt with. To skirt those requirements  the idea of calling themselves a club came into being. There less stringent laws and license fees on the books pertaining to clubs and organizations. Another problem was charging admission. To make money in addition to program advertising and sponsorship Playwright would have charge an admission fee. In a moment of inspiration the group came up with the idea to declare its audiences members of their club. Everyone who attended a show bought a membership to each performance.

By 1954 Shepherd began revisiting the Compass and left Playwrights. Rolf Forsberg would take over the directors chair until the groups demised in 1957 and Playwrights would soldier on for another year. Shepherd's Compass would give rise to The Second City, Elaine May & Mike Nichols and Edward Asner would go to have careers in New York and later Hollywood, and Rolf Forsberg would be a founding member of the Court Theatre in Chicago's Hyde Park.

The work of the Playwrights Theatre Club would in a few short years give rise to  Chicagos off-Loop theatre movement. Soon there would be Second City, Hull-House Theatre, The Body Politic, St. Nicholas, The Organic and Steppenwolf and many others.

An Unforgivable Disaster

"A playhouse so splendid in its every appointment,. . . a place where the noblest and highest in dramatic art could fittingly find a worthy home."- Chicago Tribune November 24th. 1903

"The Iroquois Theatre was a firetrap. The whole thing was a rush construction. It was beautiful but it was cheap. Everything but the structural members was of wood, the roller on the asbestos curtain, the pulleys, all a cheap compromise."- William Clendenin, Fireproof Magazine

There have been many triumphs throughout the history of Chicago theatre, but one terrible tragedy would have a significant impact on theatre locally and across the nation. The Iroquois Theater fire created changes in civic fire codes that would help to reassure theatre-goers that the theatre would continue. Ironically, modifications of these same laws in Chicago some seventy years later, would also assure the survival and growth of the theatre.

Among the greatly anticipated holiday events of the 1903 Christmas season was a matinee performance of "Mr. Bluebeard", the musical extravaganza starring Chicago native Eddie Foy. A capacity crowd of nearly two thousand patrons, mostly woman and children were gathered at the Iroquois Theater to witness this spectacular production.

The Iroquois was a grand marvel magnificent in it's interior design; the Iroquois gave patrons a  feeling of being in some exotic palace. Audiences were awestruck as they entered the 6,300-foot,cavernous space. And of course it was safe. In the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, new buildings were required to be fireproofed, and city inspectors would test these buildings prior to them being opened to the public. One such test was to soak the fireproof curtain with gasoline and set it on fire. Having successfully passed this test, the fire inspectors deemed the Iroquois ready to be opened.

At about 3:00 pm, Eddie Foy saw a spark fall from an overheard spotlight, and then pieces of burning paper gilded gently down on the actors who were still in the middle of a scene. An audible gasp came from the crowd, but there was no immediate panic or attempt to leave the theatre, though a lick of flame could now be seen burning the bottom of the main curtain. Perhaps the audience thought what they were seeing was an elaborate special effect.

In an effort to prevent panic Foy said to the audience; "Now keep your seats, there is no danger", though as he disappeared off the stage to the safety of the alley, he ordered that the curtain be lowered. The other actors remained calm, until they also realized the seriousness of their situation.

The "fireproof" curtain failed spectacularly this time. As it was being lowered it suddenly stopped half way down, this had the effect of helping to direct the flames out into the auditorium. Now the audience began to panic, and run for the exits and the horror that ensued was catastrophic!

Police, journalist, firemen, worked for almost five hours to remove bodies from the now smoldering ruin. The 600 victims told a story of a holocaust beyond belief. Among the bodies whose remains could be identified, was evidence of a stampede that must have occurred as people fled from the flame engulfed auditorium. Victims bodies show evidence of having been crushed, tampled, and smothered. A few of the unfortunates had heel marks imbedded in their faces. None of the 348 cast members were counted among the victims.

As horrible as it must have been for those who perished, even worse was that the tremendous loss of life could have been prevented. On closer inspection of the Iroquois, it was discovered that there weren't enough exits and that some of those exits were locked from the outside. Worse, the exit doors were designed to open inward, so that when the crowds pushed up against them they were trapped instantly.

In terms of theater safety, The Iroquois theater fire had national implications. The disaster forced city leaders across the country to enact legislation to prevent such a tragedy again. Changes created in the wake of the fire were; exits doors must open outward, and there had to enough to accommodate the audience, also an intake flue in the back of the stage to carry flames up and away from the audience.

Locally these laws were to stay on the books for years, and would not be challenged until the early 1970ies, when a new generation of young thespians would force a revision of these laws, and introduce the era of the storefront theater.

Free, Adult, and Uncensored

"I am asked whether a theatre subsidized by the government can be kept free from censorship, and I say yes, it is going to be kept free from censorship. What we want is a free, adult, uncensored theatre." - Harry Hopkins, WPA Administrator


The Federal Theatre Project (FTP)was part of President Franklin Roosevelt's relief program; the Works Progress Administration (WPA). An ambitious program, led by Hallie Flanagan, the FTP, was a part of the United States' first federally funded arts program. Regional units sprung up around the country.

Thomas Woods Stevens, was appointed as regional director of the Chicago unit. Stevens had conservative, more traditional vision, which placed an emphasis on American repertory plays, vaudeville, and Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and Christopher Marlowe.

Stevens' vision was viewed by representaives of the FTP's Play Bureau, as being too limited in its scope, and soon replaced by George Kondolf.

Some of the outstanding productions mounted under the auspices of the Chicago unit were: "It Can't Happen Here"  of their interpretation of this play by Sinclair Lewis, Hallie Flanagan had to say; "I felt that it was stronger than the one presented in New York." "Spirochete" by Arnold Sungaard, a living newspaper which the Chicago Tribune called "a valuable contribution to the anti-syphilis campaign", delt frankly with the problem of sexually transmitted disease. "The Lonely Man" with John Huston as the reincarnated Abraham Lincoln. Ted Ward's "The Big White Fog" was about an African-American hero and his white friend organizing in order to overcome oppression.  "The Swing Mikado", a jazz rendition of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta  adapted by Harry Minturn, it became the most popular show produced by the Chicago Unit. "Oh, Say Can You Sing", by Sid Kuller & Ray Golden, an irreverent satire of bureaucracy of the FTP. The Show made FTP history by being the first Chicago production to have a 17 month run.

The Chicago Federal Theatre Project built confidence within the growing theatre community and gave many Chicago theatre artists a chance to hear their own voice, a voice that spoke with a pronounced Chicago accent.

The Mother of All Improvisation

Neva Boyd

Improvisation, the concept of creating scenes or entire plays based on an outline, had it's origins in Commedia del'Arte. Actors assumes one of six stock characters, becoming so studied in the character's trait that they were able to enact plays while improvising the plot. Since that time Chicago has become most closely associated with this form of theatre. Though Second City has become an icon in Improvisation, without the groundbreaking work of Neva Boyd that institution would likely not exist.

Neva Boyd, a leader in the children's theatre movement, founded the Recreational Training School at Chicago' Hull-House. She conducted workshops that emphasized play as a learning discipline.

Viola Spolin

Boyd taught children and adults games that stimulated creative personal expression through self-discovery and personal experience. Of her games she had this to say: " Playing a game is psychologically different in a degree but not in kind from dramatic acting. The ability to create a situation imaginatively and to play a role in it is a tremendous experience, a sort of vacation from one's everyday self and routine of everyday living."