Chicago Park District

Fall 2010

Theater on the Lake

Each summer, the Chicago Park District’s open-air stage is home to the best dramatic, comedic and innovative performances the city of Chicago has to offer, all showcased inside this one-of-a-kind venue. Unique to the country and to the city of Chicago, Theater on the Lake presents the best of professional Chicago theatre in a world-class summer series that features 8 plays in 8 weeks. Theater on the Lake is a catalyst for vibrant off-Loop theater companies.

Schedule

The 2010 season opens June 16^th with evening performances running Wednesdays through Sundays. Performances begin at 7:30 pm, Wednesday through Saturday, and at 6:30 pm on Sunday.

Theater on the Lake 2010 Season

Click here to check us out on Park TV.

We want to hear from you! Please click here to complete our 2010 audience survey and share your feedback and suggestions.

Ticket Information

Subscribers may purchase a season pass for $110 and see each performance each week. Subscriptions are available May 1 through June 1^st
OR
Individual tickets may be purchased for each performance for $17.50.
The Box Office opens for single ticket sales, June 8 at 2:00 pm.
Box Office: (312) 742-7994.
Beginning June 8 at 2:00 pm, Box Office hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 2:00 – 8:00 pm, Sunday, 3:30 – 7:30 pm. Closed Monday.

Getting Here

Theater on the Lake is located at Fullerton Avenue and Lake Michigan in Lincoln Park.
Getting Here Green: Walk or bike along Chicago’s lakefront path directly to our front door. Not only will you BE green, but you’ll also SAVE some green!
By car: Pay parking is available at the Lincoln Park Zoo, located at Fullerton Avenue and Cannon Drive. Metered parking is sometimes available along Cannon Drive.
By bus: CTA bus routes 151 or 156 both serve the area; for schedules, contact the RTA/CTA at (312) 836-7000.
For patrons with special needs, please contact the Box Office at 312.742.7994 to arrange for valet parking services.

The Second City
The Second City’s 50^th Anniversary Revue
June 16 - 20

For a theatre that has built its reputation on launching new talent and creating topical comedy ripped from the day's headlines, an Anniversary show presents some real challenges. Those Eisenhower jokes just don't go over like they used to. So we've created a comedy revue that dips into the past as a bridge to the present. The Second City has always served as a bit of a tonic for times of difficulty and upheaval. It's our job to laugh at what scares us, to make the unfunny funny, and to provide audiences with a chance to let go for a couple hours and just laugh.

Bohemian Theatre Ensemble
The Glorious Ones
June 23 - 27

A jolly group of itinerant actors sing of themselves in The Glorious Ones , a new musical about actors who paved the streets of 16th-century Italy with sight gags and sex jokes. They captured the public's adoration with bawdy comedy, before changing artistic fashion altered their lives. With buoyant music by Stephen Flaherty and an edgy book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens ( Ragtime / Once on this Island fame), it encourages sniggers in one scene, while players perform classic comic sketches, and sympathy in the next, when we sneak behind scenes to lend an ear to their hopes, fears, and heartaches.

A Red Orchid Theatre
Abigail’s Party
June 30 – July 4

Abigail is having a party and none of us are invited, but do not miss the cocktail party just down the block. Beverly and Lawrence are having the “grown-ups” over and this party promises hilarity and horror the likes of which you can not imagine. The petty competition is fierce as social relationships are laid bare exposing the obsessions, prejudices and dreams of the guests. A sort of suburban comedy of manners, and satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s and ring uncomfortably true today.

Baby Wants Candy
Baby Wants Candy, The Completely Improvised Full-Band Musical
July 7 – 11

One of the best known, longest running and most popular improv shows in the world, Baby Wants Candybrings its hugely popular original improvised musical to Theater on the Lake! The group enjoysshows in Chicago and off-Broadway, and tours internationally. The show isa roller coaster ride of spontaneously choreographed dance numbers, rhyming verses and witty jaw-dropping comedy. Each performance is its own opening and closing night, and by design, every show is completely unique; a once-in-a-life time premiere.

Strawdog Theatre Company
Red Noses
July 14 - 18

The Black Plague has wiped out half of Europe. Terror and anguish devastate the population. Politics, the economy, and religion are in turmoil. And faithful Father Flote has received a mission from God: Make ‘em Laugh! Matt Hawkins puts a decidedly fresh spin on Peter Barnes’ Olivier Award-winning dark comedy with a 23-person cast, memorable music, and copious clowning. Ranked on numerous top ten lists of 2009, and in the top three by TimeOut, do not miss this amazing show. **Strong language and adult content.

Rivendell Theatre Company
Mary’s Wedding
July 21 – 25

When Mary and Charlie unexpectedly find one another sheltering in a barn during a thunderstorm, a tentative first love is born. However the year is 1914, and Mary and Charlie must surrender their love and their fate to the uncertainties of a world on the brink of war. Jeff Recommended!

The Gift Theatre Company
The Ruby Sunrise
July 28 – August 1

The Ruby Sunrise charts the course of television: from idealism and sparks of genius to promises fulfilled and compromises brokered. The story starts with a young girl named Ruby setting off from a farm in Indiana to turn her dream of the first all-electrical television system into a reality. It then jumps forward to a McCarthy-era New York TV studio where Ruby's heirs fight over how her story should be told. The Gift's production arrives after a critically acclaimed, sold out, extended run. Gift artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton from ABC's "Private Practice" and Brenda Barrie return with the entire original cast.

Caffeine Theatre
Under Milk Wood
August 4 - 8

Caffeine Theatre brings back Dylan Thomas' dark but funny play about the dreams and waking lives of a fictional Welsh town. An iconic favorite since it was first broadcast as a radio play in 1954, the play's 47 characters, portrayed by 9 actors, bring to life inner longings bubbling beneath the surface of the town's daily life, endearing us to humanity's bawdy and magnificent possibilities.Deemed a "must see," "indisputable triumph," and "breathtaking" when produced in fall 2009 with the Department of Cultural Affairs at the Storefront Theater.

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For a Theatre on the Lake Brochure, click here.

Designed in 1913 and constructed in 1920, the Theater on the Lake building was originally built as the Chicago Daily News Fresh Air Fund Sanitarium. Victor Lawson, the Daily News’ longtime editor and publisher, created the breezy building as a recuperation ward for babies suffering from tuberculosis and other diseases. Built on a landfill area, the impressive Prairie style structure was designed by Dwight H. Perkins. The pavilion housed 250 basket baby cribs, nurseries and rooms for older children. Free health services, milk and lunches were provided to more than 30,000 children each summer until 1939, when the sanitarium closed.

Major reconstruction of Lake Shore Drive led to the demolition of the building’s front entrance. During World War II, the structure reopened as a USO Center for soldiers from Fort Sheridan and sailors from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. After the end of the war, the Chicago Park District used the venue for then-popular barn dances.

Converted into Theater on the Lake performance space in 1952, the theater was originally used as a venue to showcase some of the better productions staged by the Park District’s many community theatre organizations. The open space on the south end of the building was enclosed and productions were staged in the round. Virtually every performance sold out, and the 312 audience members were seated in canvas beach chairs around the actors.

The Chicago Park District operated a full costume shop and scene shop, although technical conditions were far from ideal. Performances could be interrupted by bats and bugs, motorcycles and bad mufflers. One evening, when the power went out, actors performed illuminated only by their cars headlights. Mother Nature also did not always cooperate – actors and audiences alike would sometimes shiver, sometimes swelter.

In 1996, the Chicago Park District, recognizing that the theater industry had changed in Chicago, changed the focus of Theater on the Lake’s programming. In an effort to establish relationships with the cultural community in Chicago, Theater on the Lake began inviting professional theatre companies to remount their best works at the facility. Some of the city’s best loved companies – including Steppenwolf and Second City – and some of the city’s most ambitious and promising companies would be showcased side-by-side at Theater on the Lake.

Today, Theater on the Lake features 8 plays in 8 weeks from Chicago’s edgy, creative and classic off-Loop theatre companies during the summer months.Call the Box Office for scheduling information 312.742.7994.

Sources:
Chicago Park District archives
Chicago Daily News, May 27, 1936
Chicago Daily News, June 5, 1972
Chicago Tribune, May 13, 1984
Interviews with past employees and program participants, including Joe Savino, Richard Sittdown, Wayne Mesmer, Dan Castellaneta