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.