Post-Mortum

Posted on | September 17, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’ve been asked by a number of folks both here on the ‘tubes and ’round the bar what’s happening, or happened, to Theatre That Works, the working-in-chicago-theatre-online-magazine-type-thing I launched with much fanfare back in April. Well, the short answer is: life happened. But lest you misunderstand, let me be clearer: the work of Theatre That Works is happening, just not at Theatre That Works.

TTW evolved back in January and February, when I was looking at an uncertain future post-day job, with large swathes of free time, and I felt there was a growing need in the Chicago theatre community for a different kind of conversation about our history, how we work and create today, and where we want to go. I wanted to create a resource analogous to the Chicago Theater Database project – where I could help connect us to our storied past, call attention to those in town who are working for a different (and utterly Chicago) kind of success, and share context and strategies for the myriad practical problems we face as artists and arts administrators.

And I still want to do those things. The good news is, now I’m getting paid to do them. I’ve recently been hired as curator of the Theater section of the Chicago Artists Resource, which means that the city (via the Department of Cultural Affairs) is employing me to develop and consolidate resources for working theatre artists – and giving me resources and a platform to get results I probably wouldn’t be able to on my own. And the side project’s new mission (what’s that, you ask? Stay tuned.) and nascent new website means I’ll get a chance to churn out a lot of profiles and process stories as the Managing and Marketing Director.

What’s more, TTW fulfilled its purpose, in a way – I had hoped it would contribute to a rising tide of community awareness and a desire to collaborate and cooperate in new and interesting ways. Over the last few months, we’ve seen the first World Theatre Day celebration in Chicago, a reenergized and engaged League of Chicago Theatres, an impending Storefront Theater Summit, and a Theatre Communications Group conference on the table for 2010 (for which yours truly is on board to assist in the planning and execution).

But even with all that, there are still areas I want to keep exploring that don’t seem to have a natural home in these other projects – particularly in Chicago theatre history – and I still think there’s a place for a certain type of Q&A with working Chicago artists. I also quite liked the “week in pictures” feature, which I hope to continue here – so if you’re sitting on some cool visual documentation of what you’re working on right now, send it my way!

So look for all that time to time right here on the blog – and look, too, for the orphaned articles from TTW and some as-yet-unpublished content we had in the hopper – like the interviews with Keith Parham, Marisa Wegrzyn, and Kimberly Senior. First up: the articles from Resetting the Stage!

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