Theater

Dates: 1985-1991. Size: .5 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Collection documents the work of Claudia Allen, a Chicago playwright. Includes scripts and production information. [Finding aid]

Dates: circa 1965-2004. Size: .75 linear feet in 2 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Sarajane Avidon was a Chicago actress performing at Wisdom Bridge and Orphans Theatre among others. She was also a founding member of Chicago Shakespeare Theater where she appeared in Henry V and Twelfth Night. The Sarajane Avidon Papers include scripts, programs, photographs and notes pertaining to Avidon's career in Chicago theater. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1953-2000; bulk dates: 1982-2000. Size: 19.5 linear feet, includes 211 photographs, 4 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Bailiwick Repertory was founded in 1982 to be a contemporary theater with a classical core that fostered directors and strove to provide affordable, accessible and responsive entertainment that reflected Chicago’s diverse communities. The records document Bailiwick’s productions, operations and artistic mission and include its Deaf Bailiwick Artists productions, Directors’ Festival and Pride Performance Series. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1841-2002. Size: 1,382 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Music Information Center. More than 26,000 scores for dance band/theatre orchestra arrangements with individual parts. [Processed]

Dates: circa 1987. Size: .5 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Collection documents the career of E. Eugene Baldwin, a Chicago playwright. Collection includes several revisions of his play Moonlight Daring Us to Go Insane, which played at the Body Politic Theatre in fall 1987. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1939-2014. Size: 9 linear feet in 6 record boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Dr. Morris Binder Playbill Collection includes bound volumes of theater programs, documenting nearly every performance the physician attended dating from 1939 until his death in 2012. Binder's index and additional programs were also provided by the donor. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1976-2001. Size: 4 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Black Ensemble Theater was founded in 1976 by noted actress, producer and playwright Jackie Taylor. The collection includes reviews and promotional pieces for such productions as Taylor’s The Other Cinderella and Muddy Waters: The Hoochie-Coochie Man in addition to administrative and financial records dating from the company’s inception. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1928-1939. Size: 1.25 linear feet. Accession #2004/07. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Collection consists of two scrapbooks from 1934 to 1938 from Al Browne’s tours around the United States as a circus clown and circus owner/manager. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1961-1997. Size: 3 linear feet in 5 boxes, includes 36 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. First dinner-theater in the United States. Collection consists primarily of promotional materials such as programs, reviews and clippings for musical and comedy productions. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1970-1988. Size: 3.5 linear feet in 7 boxes, includes 2 audiocassettes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Draft and final scripts, lyrics and scores, as well as some administrative material such as correspondence for productions and projects on which Warren Casey worked during the 1970s and 1980s. Includes considerable materials relating to Grease, including working notes, draft and final versions of the script and score in its various manifestations, and the published score. Also included are drafts of screenplays for the film version of Grease and its sequel, Grease 2. [Finding aid]

Size: 18 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Center Theater Collection includes production records, posters and photographs. [Partially processed]

Size: 9 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Chicago Actors’ Ensemble Collection includes production, financial and business records in addition to posters, photographs and promotional materials. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1812-1996, bulk dates: 1868-1875. Size: 1.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Neighborhood History Research Collection. The collection consists of Chicago ephemera, illustrations, newspapers, theater programs and stereoscopic view cards, also called stereographs, collected by Cecilia and Allen R. Cooper. The topics of interest include the Chicago Fire of 1871, pre-Fire theatre and Col. Wood’s Museum. [Finding aid]

Dates: 2014-2017. Size: 2.5 linear feet, 57 Blu ray recordings. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Collection includes recordings of live performances and associated programs filmed by the Chicago Film Archive of Performance (C-FAP). [Finding aid]

Dates: 1948-1993, undated; bulk dates: 1986-1993. Size: 4 linear feet, includes 20 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Chicago Medieval Players Company was founded by Ann Faulkner in 1985. The company focused on drama from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. The collection includes production and artistic files for 13 plays as well as administrative materials. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1981-1982. Size: 1 linear foot in two boxes, includes 37 audio cassettes and 4 reel-to-reel audio recordings. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Chicago Public Library put on a series of 25 lectures and panel discussions devoted to the history and development of theater in Chicago. The programs were held jointly by the Lake View Branch of Chicago Public Library and the CPL/Cultural Center, and made possible in part through grants from the Illinois Humanities Council and Illinois Arts Council. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1982-1991. Size: 6 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Collection includes production history files through nine seasons, as well as budget and administrative files. [Processed]

Dates: 1914-1969. Size: 2 linear feet in 4 boxes, plus 1 scrapbook. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Special Collections holds over 100 dance programs and souvenir books. Collection includes material on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, especially in its earlier incarnations as Col. W. De Basil’s Ballet Russe, the Original Ballet Russe and the Monte Carlo Ballet Russe, as well as a scrapbook of programs donated by Ruth Page. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1848-2010. Size: 48.5 linear feet in 82 boxes plus 4 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Chicago Theater Collection-Historical Programs contains programs, playbills and newspaper clippings from more than 5,000 productions at Chicago’s historical theaters. More than 2,000 playbills and programs of local dramas, comedies, melodramas, operas, vaudeville performances and other events between the 1840s to the 1920s are available online in the Chicago Theater Collection-Historical Programs Digital Collection. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1939-2000s. Size: 37 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Chicago Theater Collection-Miscellaneous Programs includes programs and newspaper clippings for live theater and performance productions in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Programs are generally from off-Loop productions dating 1960 and later. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1890-1929. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Includes publications and serials with amusement listings and venue diagrams to assist tourists and theater-goers secure tickets and plan trips to Chicago. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1973-2005. Size: 26.25 linear feet in 35 boxes (including 404 VHS videocassettes and 2 DVDs). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The collection houses video recordings (primarily VHS videocassettes, but also some DVDs) of productions and other events at theaters across the city. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1923-1927. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. This scrapbook includes primarily Chicago, New York and Detroit programs, as well as reviews from Chicago newspapers. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1957-2007. Size: 11 linear feet in 22 boxes (including approximately 800 photographs and approximately 290 slides) plus 3 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Chicago's City Lit Theater has been devoted to stage adaptations of literary works. The collection includes scripts, promotional material, photographs, production and administrative records. [Finding aid]

Size: 12.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Cloud 42 Theater Collection includes production, administrative and artistic records in addition to visual materials. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1957-1992, Bulk dates: 1980-1992. Size: 21.5 linear feet, includes 437 photographs, 428 negatives, 29 contact sheets, 198 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded in Chicago’s Edgewater community in 1980 by Judith Easton, Michael Nowak and Kathleen Thompson, Commons Theatre presented new work, classics and murder mysteries. The records document the company’s full production history of over ten seasons along with artistic and administrative files that include casting, financial information, meeting minutes, photographs, promotional materials, scripts and technical records. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1960-1993. Size: 50 linear feet, includes 1,970 photographs, 1,808 negatives, 2,693 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Body Politic Theatre began in 1969 as a division of the Community Arts Foundation (CAF) of Chicago, a grassroots community renewal organization that combined creative outreach programs with social action. The organization was also a pioneer of Northside off-Loop theater with the Chicago City Players, the Paul Sills group The Theatre, Body Politics’ own company and numerous resident and visiting groups. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1970-1993. Size: 43 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Lisa Ebright Collection includes production (and some rehearsal) photographs representing over forty Chicago theaters across the city including Goodman, Steppenwolf, Court, Northlight and Remains. All photographs by photographer Lisa Howe-Ebright. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1983-2000. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 3 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. eta was founded in 1969 by Abena Joan Brown and Okoro Harold Johnson. The theater produces dramas and musicals by local and national playwrights and features “Playwrights Speak,” a readers’ theater for new playwrights. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1899-1907. Size: .5 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Felix Fantus (1886-1955) was an active theater-goer. He collected playbills from the Grand Opera House, Illinois, Powers', Dearborn and McVicker's theaters among others. Fantus included these programs and other clippings and ephemera in his theater scrapbook. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1946-1999; bulk dates 1967-1999. Size: 56 linear feet in 122 boxes; includes 1,007 photographs, 927 slides, 1912 negatives, 174 contact sheets, 28 recordings, 10 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Free Street Theater was organized in 1969 by Goodman School of Drama graduate, Patrick Henry (1936-1989) as part of cooperative project with the Illinois Arts Council. The grant-funded and donation-supported theater gave free performances focused on contemporary themes, meant to bring together different ages, races and socio-economic groups. Free Street performed across Chicago and toured both nationally and internationally. The records include the theater’s administrative and operational files, its production and program files, and its touring activity. The records include Free Street Too which featured older actors. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1905-1954. Size: 1 linear foot in 4 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Clara Hemmings Furry pasted her theater programs and occasionally clippings and pictures into scrapbooks. Pages are annotated with place, date of performance and the identity of Furry's companions. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1971-1974. Size: 2.5 linear feet in 2 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded by Garry Tucker (pseudonym “Eleven”) in 1971. Includes programs and promotional material for six productions starring such well-known Chicago theater personalities as Linda Kimbrough and Jack Wallace. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1918-2001. Size: 9 linear feet, includes 131 photographs, 74 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Goodman Theatre Archive, Administrative Records document the educational programs, fundraising, marketing, public relations and operational activities of the theater from its inception in the 1920s and includes the Goodman School of Drama. The materials include anniversary publications, audience studies, catalogs, correspondence, histories, photographs and reports. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1912-1987, bulk dates: 1957-1978. Size: 5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Goodman Family Papers document the family’s ongoing support and involvement with the Goodman Theater after it was established as a memorial to the late playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman by his parents in 1922. The papers include correspondence, memos, meeting materials and scrapbooks related to operations of the Goodman Theatre and the School of Drama of the Art Institute of Chicago. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1925-1986, undated. Size: 9 linear feet, includes 24 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. John Reich served as artistic director of the Goodman Theatre and its Theatre School from 1957 to 1972 and was instrumental in the establishment of the theater’s professional acting company. Afterwards, he worked as a director and teacher in a guest capacity at various institutions until shortly before his death in 1988. The papers contain John Reich’s subject files, correspondence, speeches and articles along with productions and scripts for the Goodman and other theaters. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1930-1990, undated; bulk dates: 1951-1985. Size: 11.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Producing and Artistic Director Files chronicle the Goodman Theatre and its School of Drama’s artistic and educational development for the years 1951 to 1984. The collection originates with Maurice Gnesin, but most of the records are from the tenure of John Reich, who led Goodman from 1957 to 1972. Later productions include records of Ken Myers and Robert Falls. The materials include correspondence, international visitor programs, lectures, meetings, news clippings, production materials, promotional materials, reports and scripts [Finding Aid].

Dates: 1925-2001. Size: 163 linear feet in 227 boxes and 47 oversize folders, includes 27 linear feet of photographic materials. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Established in 1922, the Goodman Theatre has continuously mounted performances for decades in Chicago. The Production History Files document the theater’s mainstage, studio and children’s stage productions primarily through programs, press releases, promotional materials, reviews, news clippings and photographs. From the 1960s onward, correspondence, notes, prompt books, scripts, stage management materials, technical plans and videotapes are also included for various productions. [Finding Aid], [Please contact Special Collections about Partially Processed additions]

Dates: 1897-1996, bulk dates 1985-1996. Size: 19 linear feet, includes 51 photographs, 5 slides, 15 audiocassettes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Tom Creamer served as dramaturg for more than 50 productions at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. The Tom Creamer Dramaturgy Papers contain production scripts of plays presented between 1985 and 1996. Supporting the scripts are research materials, news clippings, newsletters, photographs, production notes, reviews, and audiocassettes relating to research in the Dramaturg's Office. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1987-2019. Size: 6.5 linear foot in 13 boxes, including 7 audiocassettes, plus 1 oversize folder. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Lisa Gordon’s career as a stage manager in Chicago spans three decades. She worked with a number of theater companies, most frequently with the Commons Theatre, Next Theatre, and ShawChicago. The collection notably includes many scripts with cues and blocking notes throughout, as well as programs, props lists, scene breakdowns and check lists. The collection provides insight into the workings of late twentieth and early twenty-first century Chicago theater. [Processed]

Dates: 1879-1883. Size: 5.2 linear feet in 4 boxes and 1 scrapbook. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Elwyn Blaine Gould, born in 1854, was a businessman who came to Chicago in 1879. He was an enthusiastic playgoer, who kept and annotated his programs. Collection includes programs for operettas, farce, variety shows, concerts, modern plays and Shakespeare. Selected playbills from this collection are available in the Library's Chicago Theater Digital Collection. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1959-1971, bulk dates, 1964-1968. Size: 3 linear feet in 4 boxes (including 45 photographs). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Hyde Park Herald publisher, Bruce Sagan renovated and reopened the Harper Theater as a playhouse, dance and music venue in 1964. The Harper Theater Records include administrative records, correspondence, clippings and promotional materials highlighting theater and music performances during the 1960s. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1973-1990. Size: 2 linear feet in 6 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Larry Hart, a designer and actor, graduated from the Goodman School of Drama in 1968. Collection includes posters for productions at Victory Gardens, Next Theatre Company and Pary Production Company. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1974-1989. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 folder, includes 161 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Pat Hart, a costume designer, studied costume design at the Goodman School of Drama. She designed for productions at Touchstone Theatre, Pary Production Company and Victory Gardens. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1969-2013. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 1 box, plus 5 oversize folders and 2 artifacts. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Gary Houston has been an actor, director, and producer in Chicago’s theater scene since 1969.  This collection is comprised of photographs, programs, playbills and posters from his prolific career. [Finding aid]

Size: 64 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Imagination Theater Collection includes production, artistic and administrative records. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1986-1996. Size: 85 linear feet; photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Biannual festival held in Chicago six times from 1986 to1996. Founded by Jane Nicholls Sahlins to introduce Chicago artists and audiences to the work of some of the greatest theater companies from around the world. Collection consists primarily of programs and promotional material. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1971-2000. Size: 2.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection.  The Joseph Jefferson “Jeff” Awards were named after the nineteenth-century actor Joseph Jefferson III and honor excellence in the Chicago theater community by recognizing both Equity and non-Equity (Citations) productions. The collection includes administrative materials donated by members of the Executive Committee, as well as promotional items such as programs, invitations and clippings. [Processed]

Dates: 1967-2015. Size: 72.5 linear feet in 44 boxes, includes 1,141 drawings, 127 photographs, 569 slides, and 2 oversize folders, and 4.02 GB electronic files. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Virgil Johnson is an award-winning costume designer whose work has been seen at numerous theaters in Chicago, including Goodman, Court, Victory Gardens, Body Politic, Steppenwolf, Northlight, St. Nicholas and Apollo. Collection includes costume sketches and renderings as well as programs and notes. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1985-1990. Size: 3 linear feet; photographs and slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Ellen Jones Collection contains lighting and set design work from 1985 to 1990. The material includes lighting plots, floor plans, scripts, programs, promotional posters, photographs and slides. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1969-1996; Bulk dates: 1970-1986. Size: 20 linear feet, includes 164 photographs, 43 negatives, 31 slides, 10 artifacts. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Kuumba Theatre Company was founded in 1969 by Chicago dramatist, Val Gray Ward. The collection contains the theater company’s production history files, administrative records, artistic files and affiliations with a range of community and political organizations. The documentation includes the work of local playwrights along with the company’s nationally recognized productions, The Amen Corner, The Little Dreamer and In the House of the Blues. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1909-1956. Size: 9 scrapbooks. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Caroline Linsley collected Chicago theater programs, clippings and pictures which she pasted into a series of photograph albums and blank scrapbooks. Also included are movie programs and programs from New York and other locations where she traveled. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1953-1992. Size: 7 linear feet; photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Archive documenting the work of Ted Liss, a Chicago actor, teacher and director. Liss was the founder of the Chicago Equity Library Theater, the Ted Liss School of Performing Arts and the Ted Liss Studio Actors Workshop. Collection includes biographical files on Liss, information on the studio and school of performing arts, a financial series and a selection of commercial scripts. [Processed]

Dates: 1941. Size: .25 linear foot. Accession #1998/06. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Dorothy Rogers Livingston, a program coordinator for the Chicago Park District in 1941, collected play scripts and memorabilia from Federal Theater Project plays presented in the parks. Her papers consist of these play scripts and memorabilia. From 1942 through 1950, she was program director for Parkway Community House, the innovative settlement house led by Horace Cayton. Additional materials of Dorothy Rogers Livingston are located in Horace Cayton’s papers. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1962-2005. Size: 2 linear feet; 137 photographs; 521 slides. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Loop Players are part of the drama department at Loop College (now Harold Washington College). The collection contains programs  promotional material and photographs from their theatrical productions as well as programs and promotional material for the Annual Harold Washington Oratorical Festival. [Processed]

Dates: 1972-1977. Size: .5 linear feet in 1 box (including 24 photographs, 1 audiocassette) and 1 oversize folder. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Magic Circle Theatre was founded by Goodman School alumnus Guy Giarrizzo and dedicated to the investigation of innovative techniques and the development of new plays. It became one of the resident theaters at the Body Politic in 1973. The collection consists of promotional and production records including programs, posters, flyers and reviews. There are also copies of several original scripts from early shows. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1906-1953. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. In 1947 Max Meier exhibited his collection of Chicago playbills, programs and scrapbooks at the Chicago Public Library. A Chicago native, Meier was a contributor to the Chicago Tribune "Line O' Type" column and an avid theater-goer. This collection documents the exhibit through photographs and clippings, as well as contains several examples of Meier's correspondence. [Finding aid]

Anne V. McGravie (1926-2022) was a Scottish-born playwright and author who lived and worked in Chicago. Her plays include the Jeff Award-winning WRENS, The Cairn Stones, Poppy Garden, Bags, Alice and Margo and The Radiance of a Thousand Suns: The Hiroshima Project, a collaboration with Nicholas Patrica at Bailiwick Repertory. The collection is composed primarily of scripts and other writings along with notes, research and production materials for plays that were staged. Additional materials include contracts, correspondence, diaries, photographs and other biographical materials. [Processed]

Dates: 1986. Size: .5 linear feet in one box, includes 12 audio cassette tapes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. In November 1986, the Chicago Public Library hosted a series of 15 lectures and panel discussions in which Chicago playwrights discussed their work, presented performance excerpts and answered audience questions. This program was organized by the Chicago Office of Fine Arts and co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library. It was made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. [Finding aid]

Size: 3.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Award-winning set designer Michael Merritt (1945-1992) worked closely throughout his career with Chicago-area theaters. In particular he designed sets for David Mamet’s plays including Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed the Plow. The Michael Merritt Collection includes drawings, set designs and renderings, notebooks, posters, blueprints, slides and photographs. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 1986-1996. Size: 6 linear feet, 1 audio tape reel, 18 folders of photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The National Jewish Theatre was founded in 1986 as a professional company devoted to producing plays that, according to one of its artistic directors, “explore and illuminate contemporary Jewish life.” This collection includes newsletters, board minutes, scripts, production contracts, programs, press clippings and photographs. The theater closed in 1996. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1956-2001. Size: 96.75 linear feet in 56 boxes and 31 oversize folders, includes 955 drawings, 99 photographs, 314 slides, 55 models. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. Joseph Nieminski is a an award winning set designer whose work has been seen at Goodman, St. Nicholas, Northlight and Court theaters, among others. The collection includes set models, draftings, painter's elevations, sketches, slides, photographs, programs and clippings.  [Finding aid]

Dates: 1975-2000. Size: 6 linear feet in 8 boxes and 4 oversize folders, includes 7 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded as the Evanston Theatre Company in 1975 and dedicated to producing thought-provoking plays, while also providing community service programs for Chicago and the northern suburbs. Collection consists primarily of promotional material such as programs, press releases, reviews and clippings, although there are a small number of prompt scripts from productions in the 1980s. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1967-1984. Size: circa 78 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Old Town Players were a community theater group that used both professional and amateur actors to bring new plays, musicals and Chicago premieres to the stage. Collection documents the production, financial and general history of the Old Town Players. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1969-2000. Size: 21 linear feet in 40 boxes (including 503 photographs and 4 artifacts), 3 oversize folders and 12 audiocassettes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded in 1969 by Stuart Gordon and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, the Organic Theater staged a number of influential productions, including Warp, a science fiction epic adventure, and Bleacher Bums, which featured Dennis Franz and Joe Mantegna. The collection consists of artistic, administrative, outreach and production files. [Finding aid and unprocessed material]

Dates: 1980-1999. Size: 2 linear feet in 4 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Collection documents the work of Nicholas Patricca, a Chicago playwright and an artistic director at Chicago New Plays, a collective service organization dedicated to the development of playwrights working in Chicago. Materials include original scripts and production materials for 18 plays written by Patricca. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1969-1977. Size: 4 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Rick Paul is a well-known Chicago set designer of plays, ballets, operas and films. Collection consists of set renderings from four productions. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1978-1999. Size: 2 linear feet; 61 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Pegasus Players is located in the Uptown neighborhood. Collection consists of promotional materials such as programs, reviews and clippings. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1987-2005. Size: 29 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The PerformInk Collection contains press releases and other promotional materials that Chicago-area theaters sent to the PerformInk offices between 1987 and 2005. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1990-1991. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 1 box, includes 2 models. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Set and lighting designer Michael Philippi worked on stages nationwide and in Chicago. Collection includes two partial set models for productions staged at the Goodman Theatre. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1974-2001. Size: 2.25 linear feet in 4 boxes, plus 1 oversize folder. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Established in 1974 by Byrne and Joyce Piven, who were also founding members of the Playwright’s Theatre, the group that spawned Second City. The workshop is located in Evanston and boasts such recognizable alums as Joan and John Cuzack, Aidan Quinn and Jeremy Piven. The collection includes information on Piven Theatre Workshop productions as well as promotional material on classes and workshops. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1891-1916. Size: 10 scrapbooks. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The compiler of this scrapbook series remains anonymous. Scrapbooks include programs, clippings, newspaper reviews and commentary for opera, concerts, dance, vaudeville and all types of theater. Pictorial material is also included. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1908-1912. Size: 1 linear foot in 5 boxes, includes 5 scrapbooks. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The compiler of this scrapbook series remains anonymous. The volumes include programs, newspaper clippings and the compiler's comments and notes. Productions represented include operas, concerts, plays and dance. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1977-1980. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Robert Pockmire is a painter, illustrator and designer. During the late 1970s he worked at the Victory Gardens Theatre in various roles, most notably as graphic designer. The collection includes posters, programs, clippings and subscription mailings designed by Pockmire. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1953-1954, 1977. Size: 6 linear feet in 2 boxes and 1 oversize folder, includes 59 drawings. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Seymour Rosofsky (1924-1981) was part of a generation of post-war independent-minded Chicago artists and a founding member of the Chicago Imagist tradition. Collection includes drawings, paintings and lithographs of scenes from the Salt Creek Summer Theater and also of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir George Solti. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1893. Size: .5 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections. J. Howell Russell was a British costume designer whose work was also seen on Chicago's stages. The collection includes drawings for productions at the Chicago Opera House and the Alhambra in London. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1849-2000, bulk dates, 1952-2000). Size: 12.5 linear feet in 17 boxes (including 710 photographs, 73 slides). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Includes administrative records, as well as files kept by the society regarding winners of annual actress/actor of the year awards, leading lady awards and scholarship awards. Also photographs of society events and award recipients. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1935-1985, bulk dates 1940-1969. Size: 6 linear feet in 13 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Thomas F. Schulfer Program Collection was donated to Special Collections in 1988 by his son, Roche Schulfer, Executive Director at the Goodman Theatre. The collection documents primarily Chicago productions of the 1940s, 50s and 60s and includes a series of souvenir programs. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1908-1912. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 box. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The compiler of this scrapbook remains anonymous. She attended a wide range of plays, operas and concerts. The scrapbook is annotated and includes reviews, clippings and occasionally pictures. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1961-1987. Size: 3 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Second City Collection includes promotional files and news clippings in addition to photographs from the famed improvisation theater. [Processed]

Dates: 1970-2019, bulk dates 1994-2019. Size: 5.5 linear feet in 10 boxes, plus 2544 electronic files (9.91 GB). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. ShawChicago specialized in concert readings of works by playwright George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries. The collection includes production records, including programs and promotional materials, in addition to scripts, photographs and papers from long serving Artistic Director Robert Scogin. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1962-1993. Size: 6 linear feet; 279 drawings. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Robert Shook’s award-winning lighting designs have been seen at many of Chicagoland’s theaters, as well as throughout the city along Michigan Avenue and illuminating many of the city’s best-loved works of art. Collection includes annotated scripts and drawings for theatrical productions. [Processed]

Dates: 1969-1982. Size: 63 linear feet; includes 688 photographs, 246 negatives, 6 audio recordings. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded by playwright David Mamet, Patricia Cox, William H. Macy and Steven Schachter, the St. Nicholas Theater Company produced a successful and varied lineup of productions from 1972 to 1981, including Mamet originals like The Water Engine and The Woods. The collection consists of production, administrative, artistic and development records in addition to files about the St. Nicholas School of Theater Arts. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1986-2001. Size: 2 linear feet; 107 photographs; 52 oversize files. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Started as a charitable corporation in 1982 to provide a venue for Chicago theater artists to produce new work, Stage Left redefined its mission in 1988 to produce plays that raise the level of debate on political and social issues. The collection promotional and administrative files as well as photographs. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1974-2008. Size: 45 linear feet, 8 oversize folders, 478 photographs, 806 photographic negatives. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Steppenwolf Theatre is an ensemble theater company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry. The ensemble's strengths include acting, directing, playwriting and textual adaptation. The collection contains audience development, artistic and management files. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1983-1987. Size: 3 linear feet in 5 boxes, includes 21 photographs, plus 2 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. In its five-season history, Stormfield produced nine world premieres and received numerous Joseph Jefferson Award citations. The collection consists of production files that include programs, promotional material, scripts and prompt scripts, reviews and clippings. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1976-1987. Size: 5 oversize folders. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Alida Szabo built a poster collection while working in program development, marketing and media services for numerous arts organizations across Chicago. The collection contains 26 posters, collected by Szabo between 1976 and 1987 through her work with theaters including St. Nicholas and Goodman, as well as with the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and other cultural institutions in Chicago. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1937. Size: 2 linear feet in 2 boxes, includes 24 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Edmund Teske studied art at the Huttle Art Studio in Chicago, and later worked for Paramount Pictures in the photographic still department. The Edmund Teske Photograph Collection includes 24 images of Triple-A Plowed Under, a Works Progress Administration play performed at the Great Northern Theater in 1937. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1894-1945. Size: 2 linear feet in 4 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. This collection consists of portraits and clippings relating to actors, actresses, dancers, singers and vaudeville performers who performed on Chicago stages as well as in New York, London and smaller venues across the United States and Europe. Included are portraits, in the form of either professional photographs or clippings from programs, as well as obituaries and other clippings. [Finding aid]

Dates: circa 1895-1910. Size: .25 linear feet in 1 box, includes 1 scrapbook. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Theater Scrapbook “D” consists of portraits of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century actors and actresses, clipped from sources such as newspapers, periodicals and programs. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1913-1914. Size: .25 linear feet in 2 box, includes 1 scrapbook. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Includes a collection of programs, newspaper reviews and a few pictures, pasted into a theater-goer’s scrapbook, possibly compiled by Mrs. Rosalie E. Lang. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1914-1935, bulk dates 1921-1924. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 1 box, includes 1 scrapbook and 1 folder. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Theater Scrapbook “H,” compiled by T. Lovel D. Hadwen, includes clipped theater and opera playbills, predominantly from venues in Chicago from the years 1921 through 1924, though there are also programs from New York and Canada. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1874-1877. Size: 1.5 linear feet in 1 box, includes 1 scrapbook. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The scrapbook consists of clipped playbills predominantly from theaters in Chicago, but also from Boston and New York. Chicago venues Hooley’s, McVicker’s and the Academy of Music appear most often, with several programs from the New Chicago and the Adelphi theaters. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1900-1929. Size: .75 linear feet in 4 boxes, includes 4 scrapbooks. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Theater Scrapbooks “10-13” consist of materials relating to actors, actresses and performances circa 1900-1929. Materials include photographs and portraits clipped from sources such as newspapers, periodicals and programs, as well as parts of programs themselves and newspaper articles and reviews relating to plays or performers. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1970-2010. Size: 46.5 linear feet; photographs and videotapes (see Chicago Theater Videotape Collection). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Archive of a performing arts venue that also includes the records for the Theatre Building’s resident companies: Dinglefest Theatre Company, Performance Community and the New Tuners Theatre. Administrative records include annual reports and financial statements, and information on benefits. Production files document the work of Dinglefest, the Performance Community and New Tuners. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1958-2001, bulk dates: 1974-1989. Size: 15 linear feet, includes 20 photographs. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Founded in 1974 by a group of eight theatrical artists, Victory Gardens Theater developed a reputation for artistic achievement and was awarded the 2001 Tony Award for regional theater. The theater focused on world premieres and launched the careers of several successful playwrights and screenwriters. Victory Gardens also developed a reputation for inclusive theater. The collection contains production and artistic records including photographs, programs and scripts. [Finding Aid]

Dates: 1967-1996. Size: 40 linear feet. Accession #2002/07. Chicago Public Library, Woodson Regional Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Val Gray Ward is a celebrated actress, director, producer and founder of Chicago-based Kuumba Professional Theatre Company. Her plays have won numerous awards. Her papers include correspondence, programs, playbills, photographs, artwork and memorabilia. [Unprocessed]

Dates: 2003-2017. Size: 5826 electronic files (75.2 GB), .25 linear feet in 1 box (including 31 slides). Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. Hedy Weiss served as the theater and dance critic for the Chicago Sun-Times 1984-2017. This collection is comprised of electronic files of theater and dance production photos received by Weiss as part of press kits via CD from more than 85 theaters. [Finding aid]

Dates: 1974-1994. Size: 77.5 linear feet. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The Wisdom Bridge Theatre Collection includes both production and administrative records in addition to photographs and videotapes. [Partially processed]

Dates: 1894-1926. Size: .5 linear feet in 2 boxes. Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, Chicago Theater Collection. The scrapbooks document theater productions in Chicago and elsewhere. Yondorf frequently annotated her programs with the names of her companions and her opinions of the productions. [Finding aid]