American Blues Theater
Encyclopedia
American Blues Theater is a Jefferson Award-winning Chicago
theatre company founded in 1985 by Ed Blatchford, Rick Cleveland
, Jim Leaming, and William Payne
. The professional theater is dedicated to developing theater that explored new and classic American plays through the collaboration of an ensemble of artists.
From 1985-1990, led by co-artistic directors Blatchford and Payne, ABT produced such critically acclaimed productions as Eugene O’Neil’s The Hairy Ape
and Desire Under the Elms
, world premieres of Dogman's Last Stand and Bad Moon by Rick Cleveland
, and Peacekeeper by Keith Reddin
. The ABT production of The Hairy Ape was hailed by Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune
as one of the three best shows of the year, in his editorial titled “Chicago Theater forges New Standards of Glory”
From 1991-1993, co-directors Leaming, Kate Buddeke, Andrea J. Dymond, and Carmen Roman launched the Monsters Series, designed by founding member Rick Cleveland. The three annual productions drew on the work of over thirty Chicago writers, including Doug Post, S. L. Daniels, David Mamet
, Keith Huff, Rick Cleveland and Richard Strand
.
In August 1993, the company leased a space at the corner of Byron and Lincoln and built a 134-seat theatre in a month. Food From Trash by Gary Leon Hill opened the space in mid-September. Carmen Roman served as Artistic Director from 1993–1997, a period that included productions of On the Waterfront
, Stalag 17
, Keeley and Du, and the world premieres of Flight of the Phoenix and Tom and Jerry
. ABT received numerous Joseph Jefferson
nominations and an After Dark Award for Best Season in 1997.
At the end of the 1997 season, Brian Russell
was hired as the Artistic Director and in September of that year the name of the organization was changed to the American Theater Company (ATC). He expanded the company by introducing a four-play subscription season. The organization’s budget grew fivefold, its audience tenfold, and three full-time staff positions were created. Notable productions included Bertolt Brecht
and Kurt Weill
's The Threepenny Opera
, David Mamet's American Buffalo
, A Stone Carver by William Mastrosimone
, Medea
translated by Nicholas Rudall
, The Minneola Twins by Paula Vogel
, Working based on the book by Studs Terkel
, and Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
.
In 2002, Russell stepped down and Damon Kiely, a Chicago native who had spent the previous decade directing off-Broadway, accepted the position of Artistic Director. He focused programming for ATC around the question “What does it mean to be an American”. Over the next four years the company produced many celebrated and lauded shows including American Dead by Brett Neveu
, Orpheus Descending
by Tennessee Williams
, A View from the Bridge
by Arthur Miller
, Half of Plenty by Lisa Dillman, and Rodgers and Hammerstein
’s Oklahoma!
In 2003, the company produced It’s A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play and has continued to offer this critically acclaimed production annually.
In 2007, Kiely resigned to accept a position teaching theatre at DePaul University
. Ensemble member Stef Tovar became the Interim Artistic Director, while ATC conducted a national search for a replacement. In November 2007, PJ Paparelli joined ATC as the new Artistic Director.
In March 2009, citing “major administrative and artistic differences”, members of Ensemble left the organization and reformed American Blues Theater.
Those associated with the group have received over 100 Joseph Jefferson nominations, Citations, and Awards, numerous After Darks Awards, multiple Regional theater awards from New York, Los Angeles, D.C. and Florida, and Golden Globe, Writer's Guild
and Emmy
nominations, and awards.
Since 2010, Gwendolyn Whiteside has served as the Producing Artistic Director.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
theatre company founded in 1985 by Ed Blatchford, Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series, Six Feet Under and NBC's The West Wing....
, Jim Leaming, and William Payne
William Payne
William Payne was an English painter and etcher who invented the tint Payne's grey.-Life and work:Payne, who is supposed to have been a native of Devonshire, held an appointment in the engineers' department at Plymouth Dockyard, and resided at Plymouth Dock till 1790, when he came to London, and...
. The professional theater is dedicated to developing theater that explored new and classic American plays through the collaboration of an ensemble of artists.
From 1985-1990, led by co-artistic directors Blatchford and Payne, ABT produced such critically acclaimed productions as Eugene O’Neil’s The Hairy Ape
The Hairy Ape
-Plot :The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich...
and Desire Under the Elms
Desire Under the Elms
Desire Under the Elms is a play by Eugene O'Neill, published in 1924, and is now considered an American classic. Along with Mourning Becomes Electra, it represents one of O'Neill's attempts to place plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy in a rural New England setting. It is essentially a...
, world premieres of Dogman's Last Stand and Bad Moon by Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland
Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series, Six Feet Under and NBC's The West Wing....
, and Peacekeeper by Keith Reddin
Keith Reddin
Keith Reddin is an American actor and playwright. He received his B.S. in 1978 from Northwestern University and then went on to attend The Yale University School of Drama until he received his M.A. in 1981....
. The ABT production of The Hairy Ape was hailed by Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
as one of the three best shows of the year, in his editorial titled “Chicago Theater forges New Standards of Glory”
From 1991-1993, co-directors Leaming, Kate Buddeke, Andrea J. Dymond, and Carmen Roman launched the Monsters Series, designed by founding member Rick Cleveland. The three annual productions drew on the work of over thirty Chicago writers, including Doug Post, S. L. Daniels, David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, Keith Huff, Rick Cleveland and Richard Strand
Richard Strand
Richard F. Strand is a linguist and anthropological researcher who is best known for his research into Nuristani and other little-known languages of Afghanistan and neighboring areas of Pakistan....
.
In August 1993, the company leased a space at the corner of Byron and Lincoln and built a 134-seat theatre in a month. Food From Trash by Gary Leon Hill opened the space in mid-September. Carmen Roman served as Artistic Director from 1993–1997, a period that included productions of On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
, Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
, Keeley and Du, and the world premieres of Flight of the Phoenix and Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
. ABT received numerous Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson, commonly known as Joe Jefferson , was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians....
nominations and an After Dark Award for Best Season in 1997.
At the end of the 1997 season, Brian Russell
Brian Russell
Brian William Russell is an American football safety who last played for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2001...
was hired as the Artistic Director and in September of that year the name of the organization was changed to the American Theater Company (ATC). He expanded the company by introducing a four-play subscription season. The organization’s budget grew fivefold, its audience tenfold, and three full-time staff positions were created. Notable productions included Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, David Mamet's American Buffalo
American Buffalo
American Buffalo may refer to:*American Buffalo , a play by David Mamet*American Buffalo , a 1996 film of Mamet's play directed by Michael Corrente*American Buffalo , a United States coin...
, A Stone Carver by William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone is an American playwright and screenwriter from Trenton, New Jersey. He attended high school at The Pennington School and received a graduate degree in playwrighting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, a part of Rutgers University....
, Medea
Medea (play)
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed...
translated by Nicholas Rudall
Nicholas Rudall
D. Nicholas Rudall is Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, a member of on General Studies in the Humanities and Ancient Mediterranean World, and the College at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1966. He specializes in Greek drama, and has translated numerous works...
, The Minneola Twins by Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...
, Working based on the book by Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
, and Catch-22
Catch-22
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953, and the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II in 1943 and is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...
by Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
.
In 2002, Russell stepped down and Damon Kiely, a Chicago native who had spent the previous decade directing off-Broadway, accepted the position of Artistic Director. He focused programming for ATC around the question “What does it mean to be an American”. Over the next four years the company produced many celebrated and lauded shows including American Dead by Brett Neveu
Brett Neveu
Brett Neveu is an American playwright, and ensemble member at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago.-Work:His works have been produced at The Royal Court Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, The House Theatre, Goodman Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, Writers' Theater and 29th...
, Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...
by Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this...
by Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
, Half of Plenty by Lisa Dillman, and Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
’s Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
In 2003, the company produced It’s A Wonderful Life: A Radio Play and has continued to offer this critically acclaimed production annually.
In 2007, Kiely resigned to accept a position teaching theatre at DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
. Ensemble member Stef Tovar became the Interim Artistic Director, while ATC conducted a national search for a replacement. In November 2007, PJ Paparelli joined ATC as the new Artistic Director.
In March 2009, citing “major administrative and artistic differences”, members of Ensemble left the organization and reformed American Blues Theater.
Those associated with the group have received over 100 Joseph Jefferson nominations, Citations, and Awards, numerous After Darks Awards, multiple Regional theater awards from New York, Los Angeles, D.C. and Florida, and Golden Globe, Writer's Guild
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
and Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations, and awards.
Since 2010, Gwendolyn Whiteside has served as the Producing Artistic Director.