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The
Shakespeare
Project of Chicago was founded in May of 1995 to
address the lack of opportunities for students, seniors and the less
affluent to experience -- and the local theater community to perform --
the timeless works of William Shakespeare and other great
dramatists. We resolved to develop a theatrical
reading format that would challenge classically-trained actors to
emphasize textual work, and that could eventually be utilized as a way
to successfully reach the people of the Chicago area – regardless of
income, waning eyesight, or other factors that had precluded one from
benefiting from these works.
 Beginnings (May
7, 1995)
The Project takes flight with a roundtable reading of Hamlet. Founding Director
Mara Polster then begins an exploration of Shakespeare’s canon by
inviting select members of Actors’ Equity Association to participate in
readings and discussions.
Groundwork (May
- October, 1995)
In the ensuing six months, eleven of Shakespeare’s plays are
workshopped in this way: Titus
Andronicus, Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Two Noble Kinsmen, Julius
Caesar, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Othello, Loves Labours Lost, King
Lear, Pericles and Macbeth.
First
Public Performance (October
31, 1995)
We present Macbeth on CRIS Radio, Chicago’s
public service radio station for the blind.
First Season (November,
1995 – December, 1996)
Free public performances of theatrical readings commence at Berger Park
Cultural Center with Macbeth
and The Merchant of Venice.
In January, free monthly performances begin at the Chicago Cultural
Center with The Comedy of Errors,
Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Taming of the Shrew. In
June The Shakespeare Project adds a second reading per month at the
Berger Park Cultural Center. Offered as a "Shakespeare Survey Course",
and paid for by The Chicago Park District, the following plays were
performed monthly at two venues: The
Tragedy of Coriolanus, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Pericles, Measure for
Measure, Macbeth , Much Ado About Nothing, and The Winters’ Tale.
Incorporation (November,
1996)
The Shakespeare Project of
Chicago forms a Board of Directors and files incorporation papers.
Second Season
-- "A History of the English
Kings" (1997)
In an ambitious feat, we present the History Plays in chronological
order: King John, Edward II
(Christopher Marlowe), Edward III
(an apocryphal play), Richard II,
1-Henry IV, 2-Henry IV, Henry V, 1-Henry VI, 2-Henry VI, 3-Henry VI,
and Richard III. The series
concludes with Shakespeare’s own Christmas present to Queen Elizabeth, Twelfth Night. Our
first grant is received from the Illinois Arts Council as funding
continues from The Chicago Park District. The Chicago Public
Library/Harold Washington Center donates space for performances and we
continue at The Chicago Cultural Center through September.
Shakespeare’s Birthday
Celebrations (April,
1997-2000)
We present Much Ado About Nothing to over
three hundred high school and college students at Oakton Community
College in Des Plaines, Illinois -- funded by the Oakton College
Program Board and the Honors Program of Oakton. The next year we
return to standing-room-only crowds with As You Like It, followed by Hamlet in 1999 and My Name Is Will in 2000.
Third Season (1998)
We stage King Lear, Love’s Labours
Lost, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Cymbeline, Troilus and
Cressida, Alls Well That Ends Well, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest,
Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Hamlet. As the result of
additional funding from The Chicago Park District and The Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs City Arts program, we are able to add a
new venue, The Lincoln Park Cultural Center.
High School Outreach Begins
with Othello (October,
1998)
We perform our abridged version
of Othello to a standing
ovation for Lane Technical High School’s junior class of 465. An
energetic discussion follows.
Partnership with Great Books
Foundation (August, 1998)
Partnership with the
Great Books Foundation includes extended discussions of each play at
the Chicago Public Library/Harold Washington Center on the Monday
following each weekend of performances.
Canon Completed (December, 1998)
In just three years since
its first public performance, The Shakespeare Project of Chicago
completes production of each of Shakespeare's plays.
Fourth Season (1999)
We put forth
presentations of The Comedy of
Errors, Henry VIII, My Name Is Will, Two Noble Kinsmen, and Richard III.
First Full Production (March, 1999)
We mount our first full
production, Hamlet, at Duncan
YMCA Chernin’s Center for the Arts.
Outreach Continues with
Premiere of My Name is Will (April, 1999)
Founding Member Peter
Garino’s exciting, theatrical and musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s
sonnets, My Name is Will,
receives its debut performance.
Fifth Season (2000)
Massive cuts in Chicago Park
District funding decimate our venue support and the number of
productions we can offer per season. Undaunted and
bolstered by individuals’ financial support, we present an expanded
version of My Name Is Will in
April and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
in June at The Chicago Public Library/Harold Washington Center and The
Berger Park Cultural Center. We change our Fiscal Year to September 1 –
August 31.
Sixth Season (2000-01)
We offer Richard III, Timon of Athens, Othello, The
Taming of the Shrew, and our own adaptation of Shakespeare’s
narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece,
adapted and directed by Founding Member Peter Garino and
followed by a seminar and discussion (in concert with The Chicago
Oxford Society).
Seventh Season (2001-02)
Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Romeo and
Juliet, and a premiere of our newest adaptation, 50 Minute Hamlet -- adapted and
directed by newcomer Jeff Christian, are presented at
two locations.
Artistic Leadership Change (August,
2002)
In an effort to better
distribute the workload and expand the company’s reach, Mara Polster,
resigns from her post as Artistic Director, having guided the company
through its inception and first seven seasons. Joseph Jefferson
Award winning director and actor Jeff Christian is hired as Artistic
Director and Laura St. John fills the newly created position of
Education Director. Polster remains as Founding Director and
Executive Director.
Eighth Season (2002-03)
All’s
Well That Ends Well, The Tragedy of King Lear and a
fully-realized production of 50
Minute Hamlet are performed at two new locations, The Wilmette
Public Library (with the sponsorship of Friends of Wilmette Public
Library) and at the Artistic Home Theater.
50 Minute Hamlet
Reaches Out to Schools (Spring 2003)
The anchor of our education
program begins touring Chicago area schools – a rewarding effort that
continues to this day.
Ninth Season (2003-04)
The Merchant of Venice and our
adaptation of Charles Dickens’The
Cricket on the Hearth are staged at two locations, The
Wilmette Public Library and the Artistic Home Theater. Two Gentlemen of Verona
and Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts
are presented at The Newberry Library, The Wilmette Public Library and
at the Artistic Home Theater.
The Tenth Anniversary
Season (2004-05)
Beginning in the fall of 2004 at three venues -- The
Newberry Library, The Wilmette Public Library and The Duncan YMCA
Chernin Center for the ARTS -- Founding Director Mara Polster directs The Tragedy of Macbeth. Jeff
Christian's adaptation and direction of The Parvenu, from Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme follows in
November. Education Director, Laura St. John directs The Winter's Tale in February, and
the season closes with Oscar Wilde's A
Woman of No Importance, directed by Founding Member, Peter
Garino.
Eleventh Season (2005-06)
Charley Sherman and Dr. Peter Christensen's new adaptation
of the two Henry IV plays
kicks off our season at The Wilmette Public Library and The Newberry
Library, while Jeff Christian's taut adaptation of Faust (from both Marlowe and
Goethe) is presented as a precursor to Halloween. We enter into a
new relationship with The Highland Park Public Library and stage Love's Labours Lost in February at
the three venues over Valentine's weekend. Peter Garino's My Name is Will (with original
music by Christopher Walz), receives a re-working and is presented
in its new form in April.
Twelfth Season (2006-07)
Responding to strong audience interest, we remount 50 Minute Hamlet as part of our
regular season at The Newberry Library, The Wilmette Public Library and
The Highland Park Public Library -- to overflow crowds. We later take
the production on a tour of Southern Indiana, playing at schools and a
juvenile correctional facility. Founding Member Stephen Spencer's
production of Henry V is next
on the schedule, followed by Jeff Christian's direction of W. Somerset
Maugham's The Constant Wife
and Founding Member Mary Ringstad's direction of Much Ado About Nothing. Building on
the success of 50 Minute Hamlet,
Founding Director Mara Polster adapts 50
Minute Macbeth, which debuts on Shakespeare's birthday at
Montini High School.
Thirteenth Season (2007-08)
The season began with three rare public performances of the company's
newest outreach production,
50 Minute Macbeth, which then enjoyed numerous bookings at
schools in and around the Chicago area. Next, Artistic Director
Jeff Christian adapts all three parts of William Shakespeare's epic War
of the Roses trilogy, Henry VI,
into one play rife with rebellion and political intrigue. This
theatrical reading spanned the journey from the funeral of King Henry V
through the introduction of the nefarious warrior who would become
Richard III. Celebrating Valentine's Day with Oscar Wilde at his
comedic best in The Importance of
Being Earnestdirected by Founding Member Peter Garino was
followed by William Shakespeare's whimsical yet poignant comedy As You Like It, directed by
Artistic Director Jeff Christian.
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