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Performance Thu Jul 17 2008
Remembering Chicago Theater
In early June, a blog by Albert Williams at The Chicago Reader asked: "Why can't Chicago have a performing arts museum?" And about a bajillion commenters responded with, "Dude. YES! We should have a performing arts museum!" Well, that's paraphrasing. But the response was overwhelmingly positive, and the Chicagoland Theater and Dance Foundation was born. Their mission: "Fund the preservation of Chicago's rich and diverse performing arts history, with the specific goal of developing a performing arts museum and archive in downtown Chicago." The first meeting of like-minded supporters takes place on Monday, August 4th at 7 p.m., The Mercury Theater. Details here.
Other resources for Chicago theater history include a project by sound designer Nick Keenan and actor Dan Granata, who teamed up to create the Chicago Theater Database. Plus there's the Chicago Theatre History Project, run by a professor at Valparaiso University.
Personally, I think it's admirable that so many people want to memorialize Chicago theater. As long as we keep paying an equal or greater amount of attention to keeping Chicago theater alive and well.