We woke this morning, invigorated by the Chicago energy and headed out to the first of our meetings here in the city. While most of us have spent some time in Chicago, it's exciting to be back in this theatrically saturated city with a clear and refined purpose. We know our time here's going to be great.
First on the schedule was a meeting with Nick Keenan, creator of the blog Theatre for the Future and an artist in residence at New Leaf Theatre. We have been actively following Nick's blog as one of the prominent voices in the progression and advocation of a more promising and thriving theatre. This led us to his work with New Leaf, a truly innovating and inspiring storefront theatre in the Chicago theatre scene that has been asking exciting questions and providing answers both honest and rigorous in nature. Nick was kind enough to bring along New Leaf's Artistic DirectorJessica Hutchinson and fellow artist in residence Marni Keenan.
We talked at great length about the Chicago theatre scene and its uniqueness within the world of American Theatre. The three also shared with us the history of New Leaf and the dynamics of their ensemble. New Leaf artists, similar to the six of us at Transcedence, take full responsibility in the business life of the company. They all wear multiple hats and play strong roles in the day to day maintenance of the company. There seems to be a real specificity in the way New Leaf asks questions about every single aspect of how their group runs. Nick sort of described this as analyzing every detail about the "Red Curtain Model" (a term he used to refer to the current model for American Theatre) This includes assessing broad questions like what shows to choose and how to market them, but also more specific questions boiling down to why we have box offices, procenium stages, boards and other commonly accepted theatre structures. Do these things still serve us?, he seemed to ask, or are they just part of the "Red Curtain Model?" They called these questions New Leaf "Interrogations" and their scope seemed infinite. No aspect of their company seemed small enough to hide from interrogation!
What was interesting was that New Leaf uses this process not only in their work, but in their business mode. This seems to be just the kind of attention the future of American Theatre needs and it was inspiring to have them share this with us and get our brains fired up with "why's" and "how's."
Thanks Nick, Jess and Marni! Check them out online and see their New Funding Model!
After our powerhouse meeting, we followed Randi's sister on a wonderful Chicago tour by foot. The weather's been really nice, especially considering the season, so we hiked along the city, taking in all it had to offer. We stopped by the free zoo and flower garden, marched along Lake Michigan, journeyed downtown and headed up to the top floor of the John Hancock building to check out the view. We hit all the major tourist hot spots and really got a wonderful feel of the Chicago vibe. The theatre scene is certainly thriving here! You couldn't walk more than a few blocks without bumping into some sort of theatre.
Thanks to Lysee for the Grade A tour and for giving us a temporary home outside the RVs!
We've also had an incredible time meeting up with siblings and cousins in Chicago! Randi's sister Lysee is the best ever by far and has lived in Chicago for 12 years. It was also awesome to meet up with Amy's brother Scott who lives in Lincoln Square. And to top it off... we were able to hang out with Randi's cousin Matt who came to visit us on his day off from performances of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Fireside Dinner Theatre in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
It was a great day and we are gearing up for our meeting with Polly Carl at The Steppenwolf Theatre in the morning. We are SO EXCITED!
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