Thanksgiving Reflections from Artistic Director Peter Sullivan

Today, as we gather around a table with friends, with family, with loved ones, for a holiday on which we take stock of our lives and be thankful for what we have, I'm asked to consider: What am I thankful for? I’ll tell you, if you’ll allow me to drop my typical bohemian sentimentality for a moment.

I’m thankful we’re still here.

Peter Marston Sullivan directing the cast of Kiss of the Spider Woman

This may not come as “big news” to most, but it’s really hard to keep a Chicago storefront theatre company running. It’s hard to spend hours, days, weeks, months and even (really?!) years working to not only make it to the next show, but also ensure that the next show is as good as it can be. It’s hard to learn that just doing good theatre is not enough, or to ask company members and artists to give up so much of their time for little or no pay. It’s hard to get people to spend $20 and 2 hours to come see something you, your company and its artists are incredibly passionate about. It’s hard to not feel that some things - or all things - are your fault. It’s hard to wonder what shock or surprise will come next (though there is, at least, comfort in the knowledge that a shock or surprise will, in fact, be coming soon). For me, personally, sometimes it’s hard not to simply walk away, throw in the towel, or go grab one and get in some beach time... in Hawaii... with a drink. And yet...

I’m thankful we’re still here.

I know what you’re thinking: “So why do it?” I think many would share my answer: “We have to.” Whether it’s for self-fulfillment, or the hope that one individual life may be changed, be it an artist or audience: We have to. Because without these challenges, without these stories, without the process of putting something together as a cast - or a company - without those memories, those tears, that joy, the passion, what would be the point? We need to. I need to. And so...

I’m thankful we’re still here.

Peter Marston Sullivan talking with the cast of Pippin

And here we are, ending our 10th Season and celebrating our 10th year as a company. We’re planning a 10th Anniversary Bohemian Birthday Bash. It’s impossible not to look back on what my personal story is with BoHo. And I’ll tell you, it’s a complicated story, filled with a slew of twists and turns and chapters of sorrow and hilarity and joy. And you know what? I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The incredible memories I have of moments, of people, of shows. Of sitting in the audience, holding tight with a fellow traveler in hopes the lights and sound actually work. It’s been amazing. And because I wouldn’t mind a little more of it...

I’m thankful we’re still here.

So yes. Yes. I’m incredibly thankful to the myriad of astounding artists that have devoted their time and passion to this company. I am so grateful to the friends I have made these past years. I’m thankful to a company that continues to grow, change, adapt, learn and dream. I am thankful to our board, and those that have given donations and helped us make it to the next show. I’m so grateful to everyone that decided to spend that $20 and those 2 hours to see what our little storefront company can do. And you know what? I’m thankful it’s hard. Because those challenges have taught me more about myself than any simple journey could ever hope to.

I’m thankful we’re still here. And we're ready for what’s next.

-Peter Marston Sullivan
BoHo Theatre Artistic Director

From the Desk of the Executive Director: Welcome to New Faces

Welcome to November, er…rather, halfway through November. I’m hoping that as the cold air rushes in, and we prepare to kick off the holiday season, our loyal Bohemians are finding themselves toasty warm and enjoying all the wonderful holiday shows and installations that the City of Chicago has to offer.

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year.

CAST LIST ANNOUNCED FOR AMADEUS:

Up Next for BoHo Theatre will be Amadeus by Peter Shaffer. This dramatic masterpiece tells the story of genius, jealousy, and lies, and captures the story of Antonio Salieri as he explores his tempestuous rivalry with the boorish but brilliant Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. BoHo is pleased to welcome home several familiar faces, as well as welcome new friends to our artistic family.

Directed by Peter Marston Sullivan
Produced by Kaela Altman
Set Designer: Patrick Ham
Costume Designer: Theresa Ham
Lighting Designer: Megan Turnquist

Salieri.........................................	Steve O'Connell (BoHo Artistic Affiliate)
Mozart.........................................	Chris Ballou
Constanze.........................................	Amanda Jane Long
Joseph II.........................................	David Tibble (BoHo Company Member)
Rosenberg.........................................	Scott Danielson
Strack.........................................	Russell Alan Rowe
Van Swieten........................................	Sean Thomas (BoHo Company Member)
Venticelli 1, u/s Mozart...........................	Jeff Kurysz
Venticelli 2.........................................	Sasha Kraichnan
Ensemble, u/s Venticelli 1.................	Patrick Byrnes
Ensemble.........................................	Chelsea Taylor
Ensemble.........................................	Kaitlin Henderson
Ensemble.........................................	Jim Heatherly

Look for updates on the production, design team, and cast in the coming weeks! Tickets are on sale now through STAGE 773. We look forward to seeing you in February.

BOHO WELCOMES NEW COMPANY MEMBER:

DAVID TIBBLE

This month, the BoHo Company welcomed a brand new Company Member, David Tibble. David certainly isn’t a new face to BoHo, having appeared in multiple shows including Dirty Blonde, Floyd Collins, and will appear in the February, 2013 production of Amadeus. Throughout his pilot period, he tackled house managing with enthusiasm and was quick to give our guests the five-star treatment each time he greeted them. Additionally, David has joined the team of BoHo’s who will be participating in our Strategic Planning Initiative, our joint venture with the Arts & Business Council of Chicago.  Keep your eyes peeled for David throughout the rest of the season and beyond!

BOHO WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBER:

DIANA WENDT

Diana Wendt joined the BoHo Board of Directors this month and brings with her a dynamic background in writing, public relations, and marketing. Diana was a frequent patron of BoHo this past season, having seen Pygmalion, Hauptmann, and Kiss of the Spider Woman and decided to reach out and officially join our leadership team. We look forward to introducing everyone to Diana as we work to get her up and running in her new role.

A TIME TO GIVE THANKS

It’s important that I stop for a moment and just say a simple thank you to our Community for all the love and support they have given us this past year. 2013 has been a magical year: We produced four fantastic shows, including our first partnership with STAGE LEFT THEATRE; we celebrated 14 Joseph Jefferson nominations, and most recently received 15 BroadwayWorld Chicago nominations.

We hope we can count on the support of our community to cast their votes for BoHo.

We have added two new Company Members, two new Board Members, and a whole host of Artistic Affiliates. It’s with a truly grateful heart that I say to our Company, our Board, and our Affiliates who all work tremendously hard throughout the year to support our mission:

THANK YOU

Wishing you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

The Fictional Division Between Musicals & Non-Musicals

The world of BoHo is abuzz right now. We've just closed Big River with great audiences and fantastic feedback, and we're now moving into our two upcoming shows: The Elephant Man and our first holiday musical, Striking 12. As we approach the exciting and daunting task of casting and working with designers and fashioning schedules, the contrast between The Elephant Man and Striking 12 could not be more acute. Striking 12 is a fun New Years Eve musical with the actors playing all the instruments while The Elephant Man is an unflinching and realistic non-musical look at the masks we wear and the cruelty we inflict on others. And, inevitably, people begin to wonder: how can the same theatre company be producing such drastically different works?


This is a question we hear often from others in the theatre community, from our patrons, from our artists, from the organizations that generously provide grants to cover some of our operating expenses: why do you guys do both musicals and non-musicals? Isn't that kind of unfocused? Can't you find your voice? Which do you do, musicals or non-musicals?


This is such an odd question for us. Do people ask the same thing when Steppenwolf, home of very contemporary works such as August: Osage County, produces a Shakespeare play? Or when Chicago Shakespeare presents a Noel Coward play? Or when Raven Theater produces a comedy? This question of choosing between musicals or non-musicals is predicated on the idea that a theatre has to specialize in order to be any good, and that musicals and non-musicals are so different that you can't possibly do both, at least not well. And, apparently, that audiences only go to one or the other and don't enjoy both.


Well we're here to destroy such preposterous ramblings. The reason that we divide our season equally between musicals and non-musicals seems obvious to us. The aim of our season, in fact our entire company outlook, is to present experiences that are equally artistic in all areas. We celebrate art in all its forms, be it painting, lighting, sculpture, poetry, movement, acting, soundscapes, or even, yes, music and singing. Music is as integral to art as breathing is to life. Not every part of life has music in it, just as not every piece of art we create has music. Yet the tapestry of life would be woefully incomplete without music.


Our lives are constructed from a patchwork of moments of intense struggle, of heightened melodrama, of honest affection, of deadly seriousness, and of shameless levity. We try to capture this same artistic complexity by mixing such potent ingredients as the poetry of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the haunting soundscapes of Playing With Fire, the evocatively cyclical scenic design of Hello Again, and even the soaring, heartfelt harmonies of Big River's "Free At Last." So for us, there is no division between music and non-musical sensibilities. Our sandbox is big enough to include all of it. I encourage you to explore our current season, and our past seasons as well, think about them in relation to the moments in your own life, and tell me if you think the experience would be as rich and meaningful without music.

BoHo Grabs Eleven Jeff Noms!!

The Glenwood Ave Arts District is on fire this week with the announcement of the 2009 Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations! The top three nominated companies in the entire city came from our little stretch of neighborhood with Lifeline Theatre grabbing 13 nominations, Theo Ubique with 11, and BoHo Theatre grabbing 11 as well. BoHo's regional premiere of the energetic musical The Glorious Ones tied with Theo Ubique's Chess with eight nominations. The one-man powerhouse of a show, I Am My Own Wife, scooped up the other three nods. BoHo Theatre congratulates our fellow Rogers Park theater artists, as well as all the nominated companies, for their fantastic work in the past year.

What were we nominated for?

Check it out:
Nominations for BoHo Theatre's The Glorious Ones:
Outstanding Production (Musical)
Outstanding Direction (Musical):  Stephen M. Genovese
Outstanding Ensemble
Principle Actor in a Musical:  Eric Damon Smith.
Supporting Actress in a Musical:  Danni Smith,
Supporting Actress in a Musical:  Dana Tretta
Outstanding Musical Direction:  Nick Sula,
Outstanding Costume Design:  Theresa Ham

Nominations for BoHo Theatre's I Am My Own Wife:
Principle Actor in a Play:  Peter Robel
Outstanding Scenic Design:  John Zuiker
Outstanding Lighting:  Katy Peterson

Read the press release with the full list of nominations over at the Jeff Committee website.

May We Live In Interesting Times

Last night, I saw a performance of Mike Daisey's provocatively titled one-man show How Theatre Failed America. If you've heard the hype, then believe it. Daisey weaves together rants and observations of the business of American theatre with thematically resonant personal stories from his own theatrical past. The man held the entire theatre enthralled for two full hours just by sitting behind a desk and speaking.

But this was merely the first act. I was fortunate enough to attend on one of the two nights which also featured a round-table discussion with members of the Chicago theatre community, including Roche Schulfer, executive director of the Goodman; Amy Morton from Steppenwolf; Michael Halberstam, artistic director of Writers’ Theater; and Ann Joseph, Artistic Director of Congo Square. This hour-long back-and-forth exchange between the panelists and eventually the audience became at times passionate and heated, but it was never dull. In all, the evening was an almost three-and-a-half hour celebration of and exchange of ideas about art. In short, it was what I'm looking for every time I go to the theatre.

I bring up this Mike Daisey experience for two reasons. The first concerns community and art spaces. There was much debate over Daisey's claim that the decline of much regional theatre in this country is due to the exultation of decadent theatrical spaces rather than of the art form itself. The panelists pushed back against this idea, citing Chicago as being different because Chicago theatre is very community-centered. Now, as the new Media Director for BoHo Theatre, I am very excited about our upcoming residency in the new Theatre Wit space (formerly the old Baliwick space). This new venue will include three working theatres as well as a coffee and wine bar. I find these kinds of arts spaces very exciting and the antithesis of the problem Daisey is talking about. I find having several theatre companies working side-by-side under one roof to be an inspiring experience and a fantastic opportunity for cross-germination among different types of audiences. These are the spaces where you can be exposed to something you might never have sought out. I have worked at the Greenhouse Theater Center and the Center on Halsted (which is especially cool for having the Whole Foods ajacent and the community area on the ground floor). With this in mind, I can see nothing but good things and opportunity on the horizon for BoHo in the coming season.

My second point coming away from the show last night was one of funding, and this is where I'd like to hear anyone else's ideas. Most of the panelists and audience at How Theatre Failed America lamented the paltry wages that actors in general receive (if they are paid at all). Full-time actors who work exclusively in acting and artistic pusuits are refered to as "the lucky few," and even the most talented and successful artists still live a life of day-jobs, temping, and cobbling together a mosaic of different odd jobs.

At the same time, there was grumbling over ticket prices to the theatre. Roch Schulfer admitted that no non-profit theatre can survive competely on ticket sales, which for the big theatres can run $30-60 per performance easy. Other cultural institutions, such as museums, are not expected to do so, he pointed out. One audience member later commented that even though we may seek to inspire children to love the theatre and thereby cultivate a renewable patron base, it won't matter if they can't afford to attend! So the question becomes: if artists deserve fair pay and stability for their hard work, and a theatre cannot sustain itself on its tickets sales alone, no matter how popular they are, then where does the money come from? Must American non-profit theatre always be on the look-out for wealthy donors and benefactors, always applying for endless grants, and always cutting corners? Is it a fact of life that there will just never be enough money to go around when it comes to the arts, especially in Chicago, which is packed with more theatre per square inch than another other American city?

These are my thoughts. Do you have answers, or questions of your own? Have you seen Mike Daisey's show and want to comment on it? (And if you haven't, why not? All self-respecting theatre artists owe it to themselves to do so.) Drop us a comments below and let us know what's on your mind!
-Charles Riffenburg
BoHo Theatre Media Director

A lot of change happening at BoHo ...

... and it's all good!

There's a new website, a new season announced, and some new peeps in the driver's seat!

So, I don't think I could be more stoked about all that is happening.
The new website (designed by Chuck Riffenburg of Grab Bag Media)
totally rocks! It's graphic, fun, and shows so much BoHo personality.
It's so much easier to navigate too. Do yourself a favor and check it
out at www.bohotheatre.com.
Chuck and I worked a lot of hours (well, Chuck worked and then showed me the fruits of our discussions) to come up with something really quite cool.

Speaking of cool, the 2010-2011 season is really that! We announced it at the February benefit at The Glenwood, and everyone was talking about how much they liked it. Adding a special 5th show is a nice twist to our "normal" 4-show season, and the shows chosen are ones that I think excite both actors and audience members.




Check out the shows in-depth by clicking HERE.

So, the other bit of news is that, after 7 years, and 6 seasons, I have decided to step down as Artistic Director of BoHo Theatre. I have loved every minute of my tenure, and will still be a part of the company. It's just time to let some new blood take the reigns and guide BoHo along the next part of the journey. The new Artistic Director of BoHo Theatre is Peter Marston Sullivan. His artistic vision and strong connection to the BoHo values and mission make him a perfect choice for the job. Next time you see him, let him know how excited you are for all that he has in store for BoHo. :-)

I will blog soon about what BoHo has meant to me, and what it means to me to be a founding member of such an awesome company.

I am pretty new to blogging. Read plenty of them, but haven't really written much for any. It might take me a while to get the "true" hang of it, but thanks for reading!