Victory Gardens Theater announces the further postponement of the 2021 Season, which included the Chicago premieres of cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza and Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery. Victory Gardens hopes to produce these productions, along with the previously postponed productions of Poor Yella Rednecks by Qui Nguyen, In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi, and Exit Strategy by Ike Holter, in a later season.
Acting Managing Director Roxanna Connor comments, “Even with the recent positive news of potential vaccines, there is not yet a clear timeline on when we will be able to welcome audiences back. We are not at the point that we can guarantee safe working conditions for our practitioners and staff in order to bring cullud wattah to the stage in April 2021. Live theater, no matter how important to our mental and emotional well-being, is not worth the potential loss of a single human life, and we must do our part to help stop the spread of the pandemic. For now, that means keeping our stages dark. We are determined to reopen when it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we will continue to engage and find ways to present new work online, such as our recent virtual showcase, Voices of Tomorrow.”
Voices of Tomorrow: Their World on Stage, featuring a keynote address by André De Shields, is a showcase of CPS students’ work, performed by professional actors, and a demonstration of the power of the theater to connect us, even from afar. The video of the event is available to stream here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/voicesoftomorrow.
Upcoming online events include the First Friday Open Mic Series, which begins January 1, 2021. This monthly open mic will feature 3-5 minute performances that focus on a central theme or group of performers. Additionally, Victory Gardens is pleased to announce New Plays for a New Year, a one-night-only online reading of new ten-minute plays. Featured artists include playwrights McKenzie Chinn and Preston Choi, and directors Brian Balcom, Lili-Anne Brown, and Devon de Mayo, with more artists to be announced. Both events are free and open to the public: the First Friday Open Mic Series will take place on Instagram and Facebook Live, and no registration is required. New Plays for a New Year will open for registration in early 2021 on the Victory Gardens Theater website.
Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from the Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Wallace Foundation.
Additional major funding comes from Crown Family Philanthropies, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Polk Bros. Foundation.
Major funders also include: Allstate, Alphawood Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Arts Work Fund Arts for Illinois Relief Fund (at the Chicago Community Foundation), City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Edgerton Foundation, Exelon, Ralla Klepak Trust for the Performing Arts, The Harvey L. Miller Supporting Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.
Additional funding this season Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation Inc., Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Coffman Law Offices, ComEd, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Golden Country Oriental Foods, Goldman Sachs, John R. Halligan Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, ITW, MacArthur International Connections Fund, MAP Fund, Mayer Brown LLP, The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, The McVay Foundation, Metropolitan Capital Bank and Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Roberta Olshansky Charitable Fund, Origin Ventures, Pauls Foundation, PNC Financial Services Group, The Poetry Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Wrightwood Neighbors Foundation, William H. Weiss Foundation.
In-kind support is provided by: Italian Village Restaurants, Suite Home Chicago, and Whole Foods Market.
Capital improvement support from Landmarks Illinois, Barbara and Thomas Donnelley Preservation Fund, the Performing Arts Venue Fund at the League of Chicago Theaters, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Service Club of Chicago; and Capacity Building support by Compass-Chicago.
About Victory Gardens Theater
Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays, which has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater, and continued by former Artistic Director Chay Yew.
Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.
Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage, and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.
For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens, and Instagram @victorygardenstheater.