{"id":1685,"date":"2024-09-15T13:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-15T18:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/?p=1685"},"modified":"2024-09-15T13:01:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-15T18:01:24","slug":"victory-gardens-theater-history-and-features-of-the-chicago-theater-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/eternal-1685-victory-gardens-theater-history-and-features-of-the-chicago-theater-company","title":{"rendered":"Victory Gardens Theater, history and features of the Chicago theater company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company created way back in 1974. Since its creation, the company\u2019s activities have been dedicated to playwrights and their works. It has also paid special attention to the development of an ethnically and culturally diverse community of performers. Learn more about its history and features at chicago-trend.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of creation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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This theater company was founded in 1974 by seven artists, each of whom invested $1,000. It was headed by Marcelle McVay. On October 9, 1974, the troupe presented its first production The<\/em> Velvet Rose<\/em>, which was highly praised by critics and residents of Chicago. Dennis Za\u010dek became the troupe’s artistic director in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1995, Victory Gardens Theater took over the management of the Remains Theater as part of The Access Project, which was aimed to make the theater more accessible to people with disabilities. Soon, Victory Gardens Theater became the first barrier-free live theater in Chicago. It is important to note that the company has hosted more world premieres than any other theater in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victory Gardens Theater Playwrights Ensemble was created in 1996. The ensemble operated under the auspices of a production organization, which was practically unheard of for American theaters at that time. Its founders were Dean Corrin, Kristine Thatcher, James Sherman and many others. The troupe includes 14 talented actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2001, Victory Gardens Theater won the Tony Award at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for outstanding artistic achievements contributing to the development of theater arts at the national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2004, the company completed the reconstruction of the famous Chicago Biograph Theater, which became its new home. It cost $11.8 million. Thus, the company moved into one of the most famous historical buildings in the city. In the new premises, renamed Victory Gardens Biograph Theater has a large hall with 299 seats. In 2009, the company completed the second phase of the Biograph Theater renovation, adding a new 109-seat theater studio on the second floor. At an event dedicated to the launch of Victory Gardens Theater in March 2010, the new studio was officially named the Richard Christiansen Theater in honor of chief theater critic Richard Christiansen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development and collapse of the company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In 2011, the troupe got a new artistic director who focused on the development of new productions. The company has been striving for it since its foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused problems in the development of the whole world, including Victory Gardens Theater. New realities motivated the troupe to present online productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, after difficult years with canceled and shortened seasons, low attendance and problems with the artistic director and staff, the board of directors turned the company into a foundation. Nevertheless, the management of the troupe is working to create new productions that reflect diverse stories and contribute to the viability of the American theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the entire period of theater operation, the troupe staged 250 performances, including many world premieres. Some of them are Class Dismissed<\/em>, A Park in Our House<\/em>, Symmetry, The Old Man’s Friend<\/em> and many others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company created way back in 1974. Since its creation, the company\u2019s activities have been dedicated to playwrights and their works. It has also paid special attention to the development of an ethnically and culturally diverse community of performers. Learn more about its history and features at chicago-trend.com. History of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":1603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[858,851,855,852,857,853,856,850,854],"motype":[160],"moformat":[20],"moimportance":[35],"class_list":{"0":"post-1685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-teatrs","8":"tag-development-and-collapse-of-the-company","9":"tag-history-and-features-of-the-chicago-theater-company","10":"tag-history-of-creation","11":"tag-since-its-creation","12":"tag-the-company-completed-the-reconstruction-of-the-famous-chicago-biograph-theater","13":"tag-the-companys-activities-have-been-dedicated-to-playwrights-and-their-works","14":"tag-the-victory-gardens-theater-playwrights-ensemble-was-created-in-1996","15":"tag-victory-gardens-theater","16":"tag-victory-gardens-theater-is-a-theater-company-created-way-back-in-1974","17":"motype-eternal","18":"moformat-vlasna","19":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicago-trend.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}