Bailiwick goes itinerant

The big news of the weekend is that the Bailiwick's space at 1229 W Belmont will be taken over at the end of the year by Theater Wit. I had heard this rumored as a possibility months back; it was confirmed today by Chris Jones at The Theater Loop.

Bailiwick artistic director David Zak, in an emailed statement, says that programming at the Bailiwick will continue as scheduled through December 31. He states emphatically that the loss of the space does not equal the end of the company, and that he's moving ahead with plans for 2009's Pride Series; Chris quotes him as suggesting that it might take place at the Center on Halsted.

The loss of a resident space certainly doesn't mean the company can't continue on. Chicago's other major LGBT theater, About Face, for instance, has done just fine as an itinerant company since the loss of its space at the Jane Addams Hull House on Broadway. That Hull House theater was, of course, a major center of the off-Loop theater movement; prior to About Face, it was home to the pre-Belmont Bailiwick, Steppenwolf, American Theater Company, and in the 1960s to Bob Sickinger's Hull House Players. The former community center is now a gym; that the current Bailiwick space will at least remain host to theater could be viewed as a victory.

This move could really prove to be for the best all around. Bailiwick's notorious financial instability could be at least partly remedied without the pressures and expenses of maintaining a building. And Chris reports that Theater Wit's Jeremy Wechsler plans to gut the building and repurpose it as three 100-seat theater spaces, much like the Theatre Building Chicago next door—which, if done well, will be of much greater use for Theater Wit and potential renters than the building's current configuration. Here's hoping this is a win-win.