| TIME FOR EVANSTON TO STEP UP
by Jason Loewith on 6/10/2008 11:46:00 AM
I was honored yesterday to be asked by Janet Carl Smith, the Deputy Director of Chicago's Cultural Affairs Department, to join Mayor Daley at a press conference celebrating "Chicago's award-winning theater community." While the event was really a Tony Awards send-off for Chicago Shakespeare and Steppenwolf (the awards are this Sunday the 15th; Chicago Shakes is getting the regional-theater Tony, and Steppenwolf's AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is up for a trillion awards), Janet asked me because the Mayor planned to also honor the city's 3 previous Tony winners - Steppenwolf, Goodman and Victory Gardens - and Next Theatre for its Adding Machine awards. Janet told me she'd stretch the borders of Chicago for the morning just to honor us.
That's right, folks: Next in the company of CST, Steppenwolf, VG and Goodman.
And further, that's right, folks: Mayor Daley honored us as a Chicago award-winning theater.
I'll confess that getting Next Theatre recognized as a "Chicago company" for our metropolitan and national profile has been a goal of my six-year tenure here. And boy, am I proud that we've clearly done it.
But... where was our own city, Evanston? Why hasn't the Mayor recognized our accomplishment? Or our aldermen? Why haven't the Beacon or the Pioneer Press reported on our awards the way the Tribune and Sun-Times have?
Is the answer that Evanston doesn't particularly care about having a national, or even metropolitan profile? Is the answer that Evanston would rather not have world-class culture within its borders? I certainly hope not. We have often received kind words from our local government, and even honored the Mayor last year at our annual benefit.
Nonetheless, as I told industry newspaper PerformInk last week, it's time for Evanston's government, businesses, community leaders and citizens to get off their collective behinds and put together a plan for Next Theatre to have a permanent, state-of-the art theater space in downtown Evanston with foot traffic, a major street marquee, and all the prestige and audience that comes with it:
"I think I was the right person for this theatre at the right time, but I don't think I'm the right person for this theatre now," says Loewith. "We need somebody who can be really passionate about becoming the jewel in Evanston’s crown."
That's not an easy task. While Loewith points out that Next has some supporters-even donors-on the Evanston City Council, a "shameful" majority have never set foot in the theatre.
Nor has the City of Evanston, which is cash poor due to the large, non-property tax paying presence of Northwestern, ever supported Next (or any other Evanston theatre) with more than a couple of grand through the Evanston Arts Council.
"Evanston in the next five years vis a vis Next Theatre is going to have to make a choice," says Loewith. "Are they willing to be a suburb in the shadow of Chicago that offers pottery classes... or are they going to have a world class theatre and be a world class cultural destination?"
"It's going to take a big investment from the city of Evanston to keep this place growing," he adds. "The next theatre leadership needs to invest the next five, seven, 10 years into that quest."
I am proud to leave Next Theatre debt-free, and four times larger (in budget and subscriber base) than it was when I started. But the theater ain't gonna get any bigger or much better without a new home that people see everyday in downtown Evanston.
So to everyone in Evanston - including those who want to "Save Evanston" by sinking the Tower plan - I think it's time to make a choice. Do you want your city to be nothing more than a gentrified shopping mall with nice lawns and lakefront homes, whose main cultural identity comes from Northwestern? Or do you want to assert your own cultural identity, preserving what's special about Evanston's progressive roots by investing in a world-class arts institution in your center?
Tune in next week for the Hall of Shame: the names of your aldermen who have never been to Next Theatre Company, and did not respond to our requests over the past six years for a meeting.Labels: Chicago theatre, Evanston
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You are so right, Jason. I hear you are leaving Chicago. This town will be losing one of its best directors!
Regina Leslie
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