Season of Concern, the Chicago theater community’s fundraising and emergency support organization, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Biscotto-Miller Fund with a reception and program Tuesday, June 3 at 7 p.m. at The Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Tickets are $40 and are on sale now at seasonofconcern.org.
In addition to the program, guests will also enjoy light bites, a cash bar and a silent auction with items including a signed, original poster designed by Chicago artist Ed Paschke for the first Arts Against AIDS benefit in 1985.
The Biscotto-Miller Fund was created by a group of Chicago theater community volunteers in 1985 in response to the escalating AIDS/HIV epidemic. It was named in memory of Tommy Biscotto and J. Pat Miller, two of the community’s first known outspoken victims of AIDS. Forty years later, The Biscotto-Miller Fund continues to provide crucial assistance—now for any illness or injury—as part of Season of Concern, the emergency fund for Chicago-area theater workers.
Season of Concern’s event will feature Chicago theater artists sharing stories and songs commemorating the launch and evolution of the Fund. Performers scheduled to appear (at press time) include pianist Chuck Larkin (Jersey Boys) accompanying singers Mark David Kaplan (SOC Board Member), Keely Vasquez (Dear Evan Hansen), and Honey West (Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame).
The event will also salute the organizers of Arts Against AIDS, the 1985 benefit performance that seeded the Fund and paved the way for the founding of Season of Concern. Joining Season of Concern’s Board of Directors in planning the June 3 anniversary salute are two members of the original Arts Against AIDS planning committee: Chicago theater journalists Jonathan Abarbanel, who will also host the evening, and Albert Williams.
Recalls Williams, “Arts Against AIDS was the first event of its kind in Chicago, and one of the first around the U.S. It was a grassroots response to a health crisis that was cutting a swath through creative arts communities all over the world. Members of the Chicago theater community - performers, directors, writers, designers, administrators, journalists, and audience members - joined forces to celebrate life, using their talents and passion to raise money and inspire hope. We are proud that our event sparked the establishment of Season of Concern, which all these years later continues to provide essential help to Chicago theater practitioners in need.”
Former Season of Concern Managing Director Michael Ryczek will be recognized for his years of service. Stay tuned for more exciting guests TBA. To learn more about Season of Concern, visit seasonofconcern.org and follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The event is sponsored by Actors Equity Association, the labor union representing American actors and stage managers in the theater; Broadway in Chicago; Entertainment Community Fund, Supporting a Life in the Arts, Joseph P. Benincasa, CEO; Goodman Theatre, Jim Rinnert and Brent Fisher, and Roche Schulfer and Mary Beth Fisher.
Arts Against AIDS original promotional images, circa 1985
About The Biscotto-Miller Fund and Arts Against AIDS
Created in 1985 as a response to the escalating AIDS/HIV epidemic, The Biscotto-Miller Fund was named in memory of stage manager Tommy Biscotto and actor J. Pat Miller, two of the Chicago theater community’s first known outspoken victims of AIDS. On May 13, 1985, a committee of volunteer theater community members presented Arts Against AIDS, a benefit show at The Second City etc. that raised money for The Biscotto-Miller Fund. The sold-out event featured performances by a cross-section of Chicago theater and musical artists, including prominent actor-director Frank Galati, emerging actor-playwright Scott McPherson, members of the Second City and Remains Theatre ensembles, comedian Aaron Freeman, TV newscaster Al Lerner, cabaret singer Carolyn Ford, pianists Erwin Helfer and Eddie Balchowsky, and dramatic scenes from three pioneering plays about the AIDS crisis: One by Chicagoan Jeff Hagedorn, the first known “AIDS play” in American theater, presented by Lionheart Gay Theatre; As Is, by New York playwright William M. Hoffman, which had just opened on Broadway; and the Off-Broadway hit The Normal Heart, by New York playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, who granted exclusive one-night performance rights gratis. The Chicago Tribune's Sid Smith reported that Arts Against AIDS was an "ambitious, entertaining and emotionally rousing" event that "offered an impressive lineup of top local talent." And the Chicago Sun-Times’ entertainment columnist Irv Kupcinet declared, “The Arts Against AIDS fund-raiser at Second City attracted a wall-to-wall audience, a sympathetic turnout in the fight against the dreaded disease.” Arts Against AIDS paved the way for the establishment of Season of Concern, which now administers The Biscotto-Miller Fund.
National AIDS Memorial Quilt blocks for Tom Biscotti and J. Pat Miller
About Season of Concern Chicago
(from left) Season of Concern board members Melissa Carsten and Steve Scott, Lookingglass Theatre’s Heidi Stillman, Northlight Theatre’s Artistic Director BJ Jones, former Season of Concern Board Presidents Luther Goins and Mike Checuga, Chicago theater divas E. Faye Butler and Honey West.
Founded in 1987, Season of Concern Chicago is dedicated to providing financial assistance to Chicagoland theater practitioners, both union and non-union, impacted by illness, injury or circumstance that prevents them from working. SOC provides short-term emergency financial assistance to theater practitioners through both The Biscotto-Miller Fund and The Malcolm Ewen Emergency Fund. Originally formed to assist those afflicted with AIDS-related illnesses, Season of Concern continues to support Chicago-based direct care HIV/AIDS organizations and has expanded its mission and support to meet the greater health needs of the Chicagoland theater community. Season of Concern relies on fundraising and donations to complete its mission, and to date has distributed more than $3 million to those in need.
Season of Concern is led by Managing Director Christopher Pazdernik and a dedicated board of directors: board president Marcelle McVay, and Daryl Brooks, Melissa Carsten, David Fink, Martin (Marty) Grochala, Charls Sedgwick Hall, Leavell Javon Johnson, Mark David Kaplan, Doug MacKechnie, Joan Mazzonelli, Bridget McDonough, Jane Nicholl Sahlins, Steve Scott, Leslie Shook, and Richard Turner.
To learn more, visit seasonofconcern.org.
