- John Sisson
- There Is A Happiness That Morning Is
In September, when I talked with the folks behind Chicago Commercial Collective about their remount of TimeLine Theatre’s Julia Child play, To Master the Art, they said they’d soon be rolling out a midwest college circuit tour for some other Chicago shows.
Now, the Collective—dedicated to creating a profitable second life for nonprofit theater productions—has announced the five-play lineup for its first college-bound tour, set to begin next fall. They’re calling it the “Off-Loop Tour,” and they’ve put together a great list:
• There Is A Happiness That Morning Is, by Mickle Maher, originally produced by Theater Oobleck
• A Steady Rain, by Keith Huff, originally produced by Chicago Dramatists
• Unveiled, by Rohina Malik, which premiered at 16th Street Theater
• Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology, by Anthony Moseley, originally produced by Collaboraction
• Honeybuns, by Dean Evans, originally produced by Collaboraction
With the exception of Crime Scene, which will have some new actors, all will feature their original casts.
Associate producer Benjamin Brownson is handling bookings for the tour, and is officially open for business. The college performances are intended to include talkbacks, workshops and other interaction with students.
The Collective recently moved into an office in the Fine Arts Building. Cofounder Brian Loevner says they’re working on a possible Chicago show for the spring, as well as further opportunities for To Master the Art. That show (just their second effort—the first was a remount of Steady Rain), he says, had a successful enough run at the Broadway Playhouse to turn a profit for its investors.