“Not only is Chicago theater well-regarded, well renowned, obviously Chicago architecture is well regarded and well renowned. Crombie Taylor is a noted theater architect worthy of being preserved, just on the basis of the architectural value. We've all seen that coffee table book, Lost Chicago, and this would be another piece of Lost Chicago if we don't get these folks to change their mind and save a little culture . . . ”That was George Wendt talking about the Hull House Theater in Uptown. Along with another legendary Chicago actor, Joe Mantegna, he had been recruited by former Organic Theater director social service association founded by Jane Addams in 1889.
“It's kind of like a church in a way, ” says Mantegna, “because it's a living, breathing thing, because of the activity that happens within it. When we used it for the Organic Theater, this space on Beacon Street, here was this beautiful, jewel box kind of a theater.”
It was 1966 when the Hull House Theatre moved into the new Hull House Association building at 4520 North Beacon Street in Uptown, designed by architect Crombie Taylor. The innovative 144-seat arena-styled theater sits in the basement of the 16,000 square-foot structure, and is currently the home to Pegasus Players under a lease that runs through 2014. Although perhaps best remembered as a Louis Sullivan scholar who was instrumental in saving and restoring the Auditorium Theater Building, Taylor's own work was “celebrated for their simplicity and elegance, with the Hull House theater “known for its unobstructed views, perfect acoustics and intimate experience. It is widely considered one of the best designed theaters in Chicago.”
The Hull House became one of the early flash points for the exploding Chicago theater scene, first under the direction of Bob Sickinger, and then when it became home to Stuart and Carolyn Purdy Gordon's Organic Theater Company, the adventurous ensemble whose artistic roster included Joe Mantegna, Dennis Franz and Meschach Taylor, and whose productions included the world premiere of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. The Organic's production of Mantegna's Bleacher Bums, which followed the interactions of a group of fans watching a Chicago Cubs game, was a breakout hit - running for two years in Chicago and 13 in L.A. - and was adapted for PBS.
“I think,” recalled Mantegna, “that Stuart [Gordon] discovered this theater existed in this Hull House on Beacon Street in Uptown and here was this beautiful space. The look
of it was not typical. It was not the traditional kind of proscenium.
This was a kind of arena setup, where the stage is down the floor and
the seating goes up like this. Years later, it led itself perfectly to
create the world premiere of Bleacher Bums, because we had no money to do sets for the play. So we came upon the idea, if we take seats out of one section - just remove the seats - now the concrete risers become the bleachers. We acted in that section of the theater on the concrete risers. The audience sat on the stage in folding chairs and in the remaining seats in the arena. It was a case where the flexibility of the space helped create a show.”Hull House's longest-running tenant was Jackie Taylor's Black Ensemble Theater, which made the house their home for 24 years until moving to their own theater in 2011.
The Consortium to save the theater was quickly mobilized after Gassman's plans for the property became known last month, and its membership consists of “artists including Joe Mantegna, Jim Belushi, George Wendt, Jim Jacobs, William H. Macy, William Petersen, Robert Falls, Marilu Henner, Jackie Taylor and Stuart Gordon, as well as members of Preservation Chicago and local business leaders.” A Change.org petition in favor saving the theater quickly attained over 1,800 signatures, including playwright Jeffrey Sweet and Redmoon Theater's Jim Lasko.
With 46th Alderman James Cappleman and the Beacon Street Block Club in his corner, Gassman's initial response was not encouraging. Claiming that for the 47 years since its founding, the Hull House Theater is, and always has been, illegal, violating zoning regulations, Gassman told DNAinfo Chicago he “. . . would tell anyone who doesn't like it. Don't live in America. That's how it works.” He said he was making a proposal to Pegasus to buy out their lease.
However, when the necessary zoning change came before the City Council Zoning Committee on June 11, after hearing the Consortium make its case, the vote was rescheduled until this coming Tuesday, June 25th, with Cappleman saying it was to allow more time for the Consortium to try to change Gassman's mind and/or come up with a proposal to buy the building from him.
When I asked Mantegna about the idea that historic buildings in some way encapsulate the spirit of a city over time, I got a very philosophical response.
“I don't want to get into a long dissertation about this, but the whole thing is that my belief system is based on the fact that the difference between somebody who's alive and somebody's who's dead is energy. And Einstein said energy can't be created or destroyed. So therefore, when you die, where did it go? That thing, the Lifeforce, whatever it is that makes you alive -the soul, whatever you want to call it, that's that thing. The thing that makes us sitting here talking and being alive, and the difference from if the three of us were dead right now, is that energy, and if can't be destroyed, and that's a proven thing, that you can't destroy energy, where did it go?
“And it could manifest itself in grace,” added Wendt, getting back to the main message. “And I think David Gassman has a chance to do the graceful thing here and preserve a theater.”
Joe Mantegna and George Wendt has a lot more to say about Chicago and its architecture. Check out the rest of the conversation, after the break.
