from Little Caesar, Organic Theatre, Chicago
Thomas Riccio
performance creator writer director activist
Curriculum Vitae html or download
If growing plants are ever to see full bloom, they need protection and nourishment during germination. The analogy, it seems, can apply to fledging theatre as well. That, at least, is the concept behind the Organic Theatre's Greenhouse, an artistic shelter that provides for six non-Equity drama groups.
In the year since the Greenhouse began, six shows have opened--and most would not have seen the light of stage without the cross-fertilization the Greenhouse provided.
"Developing theatres need a support system to allow them to do new work without the pressure of commercial production," Riccio declares...
Chicago still has a way to go in nurturing playwrights and companies but these efforts and the Greenhouse, Chicago's Johnny Appleseed of theatres, are big steps towards even better, more diversified theatrical harvests.
Lawrence Bommer, Stage Bill Chicago