The Writers Theatre

By Bob Gariano

The popular image of the wealthy theater producer, e.g. Maxwell Sheffield, living with a butler and nanny in a brownstone mansion, is far from reality. The idea of the starving actor and the struggling theater company where they work is much closer to actual fact. Prosperity for a live theater company is determined by the simple relationship that revenues equal the number of performances times the number of seats filled times the ticket price.

Because live theater must be at its heart an intimate medium, the results of this equation are limited. Even the best theater companies rely upon the generosity of the community to survive and grow. Expert company management combined with artistic achievement is rare and compelling. We have just such a jewel on the North Shore in Writers Theatre and they are building a new theater that will help them continue to bring world class live dramatic arts performances to our North Shore communities.

Writers Theatre in Glencoe has been producing intimate and inventive live theater on the North Shore for more than two decades. During that time, they have been called “one of the best drama company in the nation” by the Wall Street Journal and along the way have won numerous other awards.

Founded in 1992, the company held their first performances in the small back room of a book store in Glencoe. That experience created an atmosphere of intimacy and audience connection that is preserved today. Live theater since the classic era has been based on actors telling stories to their audience, whether around the camp fire or the foot lights. It is the personal artist to audience connection that means live theater still is vibrant in an age of mass entertainment. Writers Theatre has embraced this concept since the beginning under the artistic leadership of founder and artistic director, Michael Halberstam. In spite of the financial challenges of running an independent drama company, Writers Theatre has run a surplus every year since opening. It is quite a management feat in such a difficult business.

Kate Lipuma joined Writers Theatre as its executive director in March 2007.  Prior to Writers Theatre, Lipuma spent nine seasons with the award-winning Signature Theatre Company in New York where she was executive director. At Writers Theatre Lipuma is responsible for managing the company’s fiscal performance. Her new project is planning and creating a new state of the art theatre complex which will be the home for Writers Theatre’s two performance venues and their rehearsal spaces.  Lipuma is partnering with internationally renowned architect and recent MacArthur Fellow or “Genius Grant” recipient Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects on the project.

“Writers Theatre has been offering sophisticated productions and nurturing the finest dramatic artists in Chicago for over two decades.  With the creation of our new theatre center we will have a home that matches the quality of our art and allows us to make an even more significant investment in the artists who have been so integral to our success,” said Halberstam.  

The sustainably-designed theatre center will replace the company’s two current performance spaces. The new facilities will allow Writers Theatre to uphold first-rate standards for both audiences and artists going forward.  Included in the plan is a new 250-seat theater purposefully designed to maintain Writers Theatre’s hallmark intimacy and a smaller flexible theater space that pays tribute to Writers Theatre’s first performance space at Books on Vernon in Glencoe. The entire project will cost $31 million of which $22 million has already been raised from benefactors.

The design includes melding the community environment with the theater by creating a “Theatre in a Park” atmosphere. Patrons will have ready access to surrounding parks, outdoor terraces, and rooftop gardens. There will be beautifully integrated views of existing parks to the east and west. The performance spaces with be complemented by a spacious main lobby with seating that will function as a central gathering area, where patrons and students will enjoy supplementary artistic, family, and educational programs. The design also includes a luminous grand gallery walk, structured entirely from wood by renowned engineer Peter Heppel, suspended around the lobby and serving as viewing area and “front porch” to the building.

Principal architect, Jeanne Gang, said, “Writers Theatre’s approach to the word and the artist mirrors Studio Gang’s focus on materials and the environment within architecture. The results of our partnership have been very exciting. The new theater center features renewable materials and exciting social spaces that will add to the community's vibrancy.”

Even the finest artistry needs to be combined with effective and diligent financial management to create an enduring company. Responsible financial management is required to attract contributors who can quickly recognize such prudent and responsible fiscal stewardship. Writers Theatre has achieved that difficult balance of management and artistry. In achieving this goal, Halberstam and Lipuma and the other professionals at the company have created a unique asset for our community.

Lipuma said, “Writers Theatre’s new center has been developed in partnership with the Woman’s Library Club and the Village of Glencoe to build a strong sense of place and community and attract visitors to performances, restaurants, shops and open spaces. Along with the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Botanic Garden and Kohl Children’s Museum, our new home will help strengthen Chicago’s North Shore as a national destination for culture.”