500 Clown, Steep Theatre, the side project and Teatro Luna are founded
Broadway In Chicago launches as a joint venture between Live Nation and the Nederlander Organization
Goodman departs its original home in the Art Institute of Chicago and moves into $51 million new digs in the North Loop
Chicago Shakespeare moves into a $24 million theater on Navy Pier
Collaboraction produces its first Sketchbook
The City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs opens The Storefront Theater
Passings
Michael Maggio, Goodman Theatre Associate Artistic Director and Dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University
2001
Milestones
The House Theatre of Chicago, Infamous Commonwealth, New Leaf Theatre and TUTA Theatre Chicago launch
Victory Gardens wins the Tony Award for Regional Theatre
Steppenwolf’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” wins Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
“The Producers” opens at the Cadillac Palace before moving to Broadway and collecting twelve Tony Awards, the most ever for a musical at the time
Historic Off-Loop playhouse The Ivanhoe Theatre closes
Passings
Martin deMaat, longtime teacher and artistic director at The Second City Training Center
2002
Milestones
Richard Christiansen steps down as theater critic at the Chicago Tribune, after 40 years of covering theater in Chicago. Michael Phillips is brought in to replace him, but eventually shifts to film and former Newcity theater editor Chris Jones takes over the role, which he holds to this day.
Mary Zimmerman wins the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for “Metamorphoses,” which she’d developed and premiered at Lookingglass.
Hull House Theater, the historic venue Bob Sickinger launched the Off-Loop movement in the early sixties, with many subsequent milestones to follow, closes for good.
Passings
Byrne Piven, legendary Chicago actor and director dating back to pre-Second City origins, and co-founder of The Piven Theatre Workshop
2003
Milestones
Lookingglass moves into Water Tower Works
Writers’ Theatre opens a second, larger space with 108 seats in the Woman’s Library Club of Glencoe
Goodman’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” wins Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “Pacific Overtures wins London’s Olivier Award for Best Musical Production
Signal Ensemble Theatre is founded
21 nightclubbers dies in a stampede at E2. The resulting city crackdown on code violations threatens the viabililty of storefront theater in Chicago
2004
Milestones
Roadworks Productions and Defiant Theatre disband
Hobo Junction launches
Retired Chicago Tribune critic Richard Christiansen publishes “A Theater of Our Own: A History and Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago.”
Passings
Tim Beamish, actor
Ray Wild, actor
Brad Nelson Winters, Terrapin Theatre artistic director
2005
Milestones
Famous Door Theatre disbands
Passings
Hope Abelson, producer and patron of the arts
August Wilson, playwright who had a long relationship with the Goodman
2006
Milestones
Victory Gardens Biograph Theater opens, following more than $11 million in renovations to the historic site
Theatre Seven is founded
Passings
Nick Brenner, Infamous Commonwealth Theatre company member
Gene Janson, actor
Fred Solari, executive director of the Athenaeum Theatre and co-founder of Dance Chicago
2007
Milestones
16th Street Theater is founded
Writers’ opens “Crime and Punishment” at 59E59 Theatre in New York to unanimous critical acclaim, breaking box-office records for the theater
Passings
Joe Van Slyke, actor and Remy Bumppo Artistic Associate
2008
Milestones
Chicago Shakespeare Theater wins the Tony Award for Regional Theatre
Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts’ play “August: Osage County,” which premiered a year earlier at Steppenwolf Theatre, wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play
Next Theatre’s production of “Adding Machine: A Musical” is an Off-Broadway hit under the direction of David Cromer
ComedySportz Theatre moves into a new theater at 929 West Belmont
Passings
Page Hearn, actor affiliated with City Lit
Paul Sills, seminal figure in the development of The Second City and the son of Viola Spolin
Studs Terkel, author, actor, Chicago icon
2009
Milestones
“Wicked” closes its record-setting run after playing to 2.9 million people in three-and-a-half years at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre.
David Cromer’s “Our Town,” which he directed for The Hyprocrites, is an Off-Broadway hit, the longest-running production in the play’s history
Goodman Theatre’s “Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century” features six theater companies from three countries, fourteen plays and programs and plays to nearly 50,000 people
Goodman Theatre’s “Desire Under the Elms” opens and closes on Broadway
After spending eight months or so as a gypsy company after leaving its longtime hom on Belmont, Bailiwick Repertory closes its doors and reincarnates a month later as Bailiwick Chicago under new leadership
Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park closes a few months after the death of founder Eileen Boevers
Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined,” a play commissioned by and premiered at the Goodman, wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama
“A Steady Rain,” by longtime Chicago Dramtists resident playwright Keith Huff and first staged there, opens on Broadway for a limited run that sets weekly box-office records for a new musical, thanks in large part to its cast of Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman
Steppenwolf’s production of ensemble member Tracy Letts’ “Superior Donuts” opens on Broadway
Second City celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a star-studded reunion weekend
Passings
Dan Allar, Equity actor and stage manager
Eileen Boevers, the founder and longtime leader of the Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park
Steve Cinabro, actor and member of European Repertory Theatre
Esther McCormick, actor and member of Raven Theatre Co.
Michael Philippi, lighting and set designer who worked closely with Goodman artistic director Robert Falls and many other Chicago theater companies
2000
2000
