They’ve been neighbors in the same building for years, but Profiles Theatre and National Pastime Theater will be widening the physical gap between their companies in the months to come.
The old speakeasy space at 4139 N. Broadway, occupied by National Pastime for nearly 20 years, will be taken over by Profiles, which has been nestled at 4147 N. Broadway since 1990. Prior to that, the 24-year old company was in residence at Wright College.
Profiles opens the American premiere of Neil LaBute’s In a Forest, Dark and Deep, on April 13, in the old NPT space, which will now be known as “The Main Stage,” with 99 seats. They’ll hang onto the smaller 65-seat space next door, now called “The Alley Stage.”
Darrell Cox now Profiles’ co-artistic director
In August of 2010, they acquired the old Stage Left venue at 3408 N. Sheffield, now known as “The Second Stage.” (Their current production of Deirdre O’Connor’s Assisted Living continues there through February 19. Stage Left is now a resident company at Theater Wit.)
Profiles has built a strong relationship with LaBute over the years, having produced eight previous LaBute shows. This production replaces the previously announced LaBute play, The Break of Noon, which will now open next season.
Additionally, Profiles’ longtime leading man, Darrell W. Cox, formerly associate artistic director, now joins founding member Joe Jahraus as the company’s co-artistic director.
20 year old National Pastime moves to Uptown space
Meantime, National Pastime, with the support of 46th ward alderman James Cappleman, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a move into the fourth floor of the Preston Bradley Center at 941 W. Lawrence Avenue.
Under Mayor Emanuel, that section of Uptown (also home to the Green Mill, the Aragon, the Annoyance and the long-shuttered Uptown Theatre) has been designated a “Neighborhood Entertainment District.”
“It just walked in our door one day with the alderman,” says National Pastime artistic director Laurence Bryan. “He said ‘We’re developing an entertainment district; you do really wild work. Are you interested in looking at a space that nobody has seen for a very long time?’”
Pastime’s $140,000 budget to “increase significantly”
The 1926 building, which is on the Federal Register of Historic Places, has, over the years, housed the Peoples Church of Chicago and provided space for the now-defunct Women in the Director’s Chair film nonprofit.
The fourth-floor theater space housed the Chicago Actors Ensemble in the 1990s, but has been largely vacant since then.
Bryan notes that “The space is beautiful, but it needs a fair amount of restoration over time.” Still, he relishes the chance to expand into the 3,000-square-foot room, with its 20-foot ceilings and period murals.
“It’s like a speakeasy that’s ten times bigger,” says Bryan. “Our budget will increase significantly.”
Bryan estimates the company’s current annual operating budget as $140,000.
National Pastime kicks off their new home with a February 14 Valentine’s benefit, “Beginning of the Big Time,” at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 per couple, $25 per single, at 773/327-7077.
Their first full production at Preston Bradley, Michael Sokoloff’s A Bend in the Road, opens May 4.
