Dan Granata‘s seasonal state of the theatrical mini-nation is up over at Performink, as he introduces the 2008-09 Chicago theatre season. A brief taste:
Shakespeare once again tops the list of most-produced playwright with 20 productions or adaptations of his work. Including the suburban theatres, there will be two Tempests, three Midsummer’s (including CSC’s Short Shakespeare), three Twelfth Nights and five Macbeths (including Radio Macbeth at the Court).
Setting aside Eugene O’Neill’s domination at the Goodman, we have five Tennessee Williams plays (including two Glass Menageries), five Ibsens, three Chekhovs, three Pinters, three Shanleys and three Stoppards. And, thankfully, three plays by Tanya Saracho.
Old Europe takes the New World with a clear point advantage, I think. As Dan points out, many of the smaller companies are unable to plan as far ahead as next Spring, so the current survey count reflects the plans of the larger, established (more financially secure) companies. It’s always interesting to see whether the relative insecurity of smaller companies breeds the need to stage known texts, or seeds bloody-minded adventurousness.
More importantly, here’s Dan’s editorial moment on one of our favourite subjects:
But there are even bigger opportunities for collaboration. As I said before, half the companies in Chicago operate on less than $50,000 a year, yet this season they’ll only produce around a third of the shows in and around Chicago. Producing theatre is expensive and time-consuming.
Creative partnering could take some of the burden off. Sets, for instance, often constitute a huge part of a production budget, yet all throughout the season, companies with no storage space throw out piles of wood after closing a show. All it takes is a centralized list of strike dates and a list of contact people to put some of that scrap wood to use. And that’s just one example.
Indeed.
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