News Tue Nov 11 2014
Next Theatre Shuts Down Mid-Season
Next Theatre, which has been producing award-winning, socially provocative plays in Evanston for 34 years, is shutting down. The theater ceased operations as of yesterday -- in the middle of the season with two plays yet to be produced.
Board president Rob Andalman said the theater's audiences have shrunk dramatically in the past few years and its contributors have not made up the difference. Next has been performing at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, on Noyes Street near Ridge Avenue. The theater season was to include Shakespeare's Richard III, opening in January and the world premiere of Turtle by Jake Jeppson, which had been set to run in April.
Various Chicago media reported last summer that Next was far behind on its rent payments to the city of Evanston and that the theater would probably be evicted at the end of its 2014-15 season. The theater currently owes about $80,000 in rent.
Next says it intends to seek out other area theaters that might be willing to honor its subscribers' tickets for the remainder of this season.
Next has been well known for providing a showcase for new playwrights such as Suzan Lori Parks (In the Blood), Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart) and, most recently, Amy Herzog's After the Revolution. Next premiered Tracy Letts' first play Killer Joe and also produced the sold-out Adding Machine the Musical in 2007, which went on to a successful run in New York.
"On behalf of the board and the staff of Next Theatre, we thank those in the Evanston community and beyond for the support the theater has received over these 34 years," Andalman said. "It has been a very special run."
