Storefront Rebellion

Filler

Oh, hey. I haven't forgotten you. I'm still here, though I'm definitely more there and there right now.

I actually have a post percolating in my head for here that came to me over the weekend; the only question is when to find time to write it. Guess I just wanted to pop in and say I haven't forgotten this place.

In my other few seconds of spare time this week, I'm trying to decide what to be for Halloween. Any ideas?

Chicago Theater 101 in the Guardian

Last Wednesday, I got a call from an editor at the Guardian asking if I'd be interested in contributing a post about Chicago theater to their Stage blog. They were looking for a quick turnaround in a week that was already very busy here; factoring in the time difference, I had to dash this thing off over a couple of very late nights.

It did feel a little odd to me that I ended up using our current New York exports as a way in, especially given what I'd just written here. But for an audience at the Guardian that has up to now only been reading about theater in London and New York, it seemed like a convenient introduction to why they need to keep up with Chicago theater as well. I think I made a pretty good case. This may or may not become an ongoing thing; let me know what you think.

And what a year it's been.

How do you measure a year? In (female) playwrights, in non-nude scandals, in taking issue with other reviews and long stretches without posting. That's right, Storefront Rebellion is one year old tomorrow, and if StatCounter can be trusted, I should get my 35,000th visitor right around then as well. So I decided to spruce the place up a bit.

Zac Thompson tagged me with this meme. One of the laws of blogging is that you must comply when meme-tagged. Even though I break that law all the time, I like this one. The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I'm writing this from the office, where the first book on my shelf is longtime Tribune critic Richard Christiansen's A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago. Sentences five through seven of page 123:

The key event in realizing this theater of our own was the opening of Hull House Theater in 1963, when into the vacuum of local theater came a whirlwind named Bob Sickinger. At thirty-five, Sickinger already had attracted attention for his direction of dozens of plays in several Philadelphia area theaters, presenting new works by the young playwright Edward Albee, among others, and working with aspiring actors like Peter Boyle and Robert Prosky and the lighting designer Jules Fisher, who was eighteen and still in high school when he hung lights for the director. Paul Jans, director of the Lighthouse Settlement social agency in Philadelphia and newly appointed director of Hull House in Chicago, knew Sickinger's work and asked him to come to Chicago to reinvigorate the theater program that had once been a highlight of Hull House activity.

Christiansen's book is highly recommended if you haven't read it.

You know what else is highly recommended? Speech and Debate at American Theater Company. It only runs for three weeks, so get on it. Mary Warren and Teenage Abe Lincoln would love to see you there.