Join the fun at our second Lunar Eclipse party!

Come celebrate & network with all of us at Eclipse as well as our colleagues and friends from the theatre community, as the Chicago theatre fall season begins and Eclipse’s 2-year Celebration Series concludes.
The night kicks off at 7:00 pm at our swanky digs with beer, wine & food, live DJ & dancing, a little [...]

Speed Theater

The Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, our home for five years now, is having an Open House tonight – it’s a free event with food, drinks, and performances from Eclipse, Shattered Globe, MPAACT and Victory Gardens. We’ll be presenting a scene from Candles to the Sun, which is now a week into rehearsals.
The “Speed Theater” format [...]

Ethnicity in Theatre

Last summer Time Out Chicago had a feature article discussing the race barrier in Chicago. Prior to the articles publication Eclipse had already announced their 2007 season playwright, African American writer Pearl Cleage. A mostly white theater company producing an entire season of theater by an African American playwright. Could this [...]

Who is Suzan Lori Parks?

For those of you whom are unfamiliar with SLP-Let’s take a glimpse at Suzan Lori Parks life and work-

Suzan Lori Parks was born on May 10, 1963 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. She attended a German high school (her father was in the military) and attended college at Mount Holyoke College. In 2002 Parks became the [...]

Kick Off to Eclipse’s SLP 365 Days/365 Plays

In a little over a month Eclipse will produce their week of Suzan Lori Parks’ 365 Days/ 365 Plays.  I am dramaturging Eclipse’s portion of the festival and directing one of the pieces.   
For those that have not heard about this year long world premiere play festival here is a summary:  In 2002 Pulitzer [...]

Watch the acceptance speeches from the Jeff Awards

In case you weren’t at the Park West for the 34th annual Jeff Awards a few weeks ago, our friends at stagechannel have put together a compilation of all the acceptance speeches throughout the evening.
First up is Alfred Kemp, who barely had a chance to settle in before getting called up on stage to accept [...]

34th annual Jeff Awards

Congratulations to everyone who was honored with nominations and Citations from the Joseph Jefferson Committee this past Monday night, and especially to those we were fortunate enough to have the chance to work with – Eclipse finished the evening with five Citation Awards: 
Outstanding Production: Blues for an Alabama Sky
Outstanding Direction: Steven Fedoruk, Blues for an [...]

Pearl Cleage Day

I must have missed the official announcement, but today was definitely Pearl Cleage Day in Chicago. We spent the day traveling the city with the wonderful playwright and novelist, celebrating and discussing her works. The day really began last night, when Pearl joined us for a post-show discussion after Blues for an Alabama Sky. The [...]

A hollering place

It’s a fun month (and year) for Pearl Cleage fans in Chicago – our production of Blues for an Alabama Sky opens tonight at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, Flyin’ West opened at Court Theatre yesterday, and Ms. Cleage herself will be in town next weekend, attending performances of each production and public discussions of [...]

An evening at the Newberry Library

CeCe and I visited Maren’s class at the Newberry Library the other night, and joined her students in a discussion of the theatrical process in general and Boy Gets Girl in particular. The course description explains the focus of the class like this:
We seek to break “the fourth wall” and establish discussion between those who see theater [...]

The Greenhouse opens on Tuesday

I just got a press release and a great picture promoting the Greenhouse Open House taking place this coming Tuesday, August 29 at the soon-to-be-former Victory Gardens Theater (the official new name: the Victory Gardens Theater Greenhouse). I’ll let the release speak for itself; come join us on Tuesday night for a great party.
Representatives from [...]

The Newberry Library looks ‘Behind the Scenes”

Eclipse company member, dramaturg and actor Maren Robinson will be teaching a course at the Newberry Library this fall, giving students an incredible opportunity to see how and why small theatre companies in Chicago do what we do.
This is going to be a fantastic class – Maren’s enthusiasm and curiosity are contagious, and she’ll be [...]

The Greenhouse blooms: an update

The official invitation to the Open House on August 29 (click on the image for a full-size version):
 
We’ll be presenting a scene from Spinning into Butter and talking about the future of Eclipse Theatre Company and the Greenhouse in general. The other resident companies will be performing scenes from their current or upcoming productions as well.
To [...]

A look at what’s growing in the Greenhouse

In just over a month, Victory Gardens Theater will be celebrating their new home, just up the road at the Biograph Theater. They’ll be leaving behind a group of small, young and passionate theatre companies (including us, of course) to continue working in the building at 2257 N Lincoln (and it’ll still be their building, so [...]

Diversity in Chicago Theater

WBEZ interviewed Christopher Piatt and Novid Parsi, the writers of a piece in this week’s Time Out Chicago called “Diversity in Chicago Theater” last Wednesday – click here to listen to the interview.