WRITERS’ THEATRE in Glencoe has hired none other than Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects to design the new building on the site of the Tudor Court building, which will be razed. The Woman’s Library Club, however, will continue to share the new space.
Gang, whose designs include the stunning Aqua building on North Columbus Drive, won the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (a.k.a. “the genius grant”) this past fall – a couple months after she signed onto the Writers’ project.
Says executive director Kate Lipuma, “One of the things we’re working on with Jeanne is ‘This is everything we need in the new space. How does that work?’ We’re in the process of concept designs with them – the floor plan for the performance space, how many bathrooms, how big the lobby should be.”
The company, under the leadership of Lipuma and artistic director/founder Michael Halberstam, has grown from the tiny backroom at the Books on Vernon bookstore to a larger space in the building owned by the Woman’s Library Club of Glencoe, by the Metra station on Tudor Court.
But Writers’ routinely sells out even their longer-than-usual runs, and they’ve needed a bigger venue for a while. “We’re capped on earned revenue and it’s hampering our ability to create new work,” says Lipuma. “The goal is to have two venues.”
But Lipuma says they won’t rush the operation. “We’re going to finalize plans with Studio Gang and then start the discussions with our friends and neighbors and funders. So a four-year timeline is about what we’re on now.”
Their current production of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker runs at the Books on Vernon bookstore through March 25, and the Women’s Club of Glencoe presents Chicago playwright Randall Colburn’s Hesperia, about porn stars seeking redemption in a small town, January 24-March 18.)
