The Chicago suburbs introduce another community theater. Berwyn just announced the opening of the 16th Street Theater at a special event. They tooted their own horns and gave a preview of the season to come the self-gratification that comes out of many community theaters throughout the suburbs.
There are two kinds of community theaters the ones that struggle and try to do inspirational performances that will hopefully impact a community. The other puts on productions that are known hit scripts collect donations and toot their own horns. This theater looks to be a little of both.
After the great build up of the theater space located in the basement of the Berwyn Cultural Center. A build up that included the struggle for funding in Berwyn and lobbying in Springfield. It was expected to be a basic in décor yet fairly large theater in nature with lots of toys. The build up was way too big for the black box theater that only has to boast that the chairs match.
It was an evening of mixed feeling during the debut. The 16th Theater does not know what it wants to be yet. When Artistic Director Ann Filmer said to some local play writers, “Now get off the stage the stage is for actors.” And then follows it up with a poetic statement, “Theater is not just for entertainment we have entertainment 24-7. We have too much entertainment, but art is here to actually get us thinking and get us working through our issues.” There is a conflict of what this theater wants to be.
This theater has a strange makeup that includes local award winning play writes. The season will open with Will Dunn a native of Riverside, IL. The Performance will be The Ascension of Carlotta when a girl who works in a Berwyn 7-11 falls in love with a man that has the dream to rob a 7-11. They close the season with Tanya Saracho from Chicago, IL. Her script is Kita y Fernanda a look into the lives of two Mexican girls one growing up rich in Texas and the other growing up as the child of an undocumented maid.
If actions speak louder than words the 16th Street Theater will become an asset to the community of Berwyn and a major player in the Chicago theater scene as a whole. It seems to have a connection to theater beyond the focus of the City of Berwyn that is unlike many other community theaters that forget that they are part of a much larger metropolitan area. There is still a focus of community and keeping faith in the area’s writers and actors.
The 16th Street Theater is the first Equity Theater in Berwyn. Equity is the stage actor’s union. There are very few Equity theaters in the Chicago area and many of them are large well known theaters with some serious star power or guest-star power. It is hard to believe that a nationally acclaimed movie or TV actor will be performing in the 49-seat black box theater of the 16th Street Theater.
Only time will tell what will come out of the 16th Street Theater. They have a 10-year agreement for their current space. If they follow the route of many current Community Theaters they will have a grand new space in their own building after the 10-year agreement. Coming from all of the donation dollars they will receive. If they follow the local theater path they will be a huge asset to the City of Berwyn and the surrounding Chicago area and will be renewing their lease in 10 years. And then there is still the possibility the two will collide and the 16th Street Theater will fall completely off the map in a few years. www.16thstreettheater.com