Writers’ Theater Chicago continues to hack out the terms of its move from the back room of Books on Vernon, down the street, and around the corner to the Women’s Library Club of Glencoe. The troupe’s waiting for the club to approve a contract that’ll give them a lease on a larger performance space. It’s a slow process and the space will need work–executive director John W. Adams says that if they get the go-ahead in March, the curtain won’t go up on their first show there until September 2003. That means at least one more season to enjoy the group’s predicament, which has it offering Broadway-quality performances in a venue so small the audience is, in effect, sucked into the action. Case in point: Jeff Still’s spectacular, born-in-these-shoes portrayal of a misfit cop in midlife crisis and Lee Roy Roger’s fine work as his wife in the current production of Arthur Miller’s The Price, directed by David Cromer. It’s a cliche to invoke Steppenwolf in its church basement days (and this is more professional than Steppenwolf was then), but that’s what comes to mind. They’ll still be great in larger quarters, but it won’t be the same for the audience. The Price continues through March 31 at the theater, 644 Vernon in Glencoe. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8, DSaturday at 5 and 8, and Sunday at 2:30 and 6. Tickets are $38 and precious. Call 847-835-5398.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Michael Halberstam.