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  • "We Do Storefront Theatre":Using Chicago's Storefront Theatre Model as the Foundation for a Theatre Curriculum
  • Chad Eric Bergman (bio)

As a result of the changing economic climate, theatre programs at colleges and universities face a range of budget cuts or even the possibility of being eliminated, and they are now looking for different solutions to offer a quality experience at a reasonable cost. At North Park University, a small liberal arts college in Chicago, we have met this challenge by developing an innovative theatre curriculum that is based on the Chicago Storefront Theatre model, where experiential learning is at the core of the program. With over 200 production companies making theatre in over 115 venues, most of the theatre in Chicago is being done in small spaces by groups with limited financial resources. The following describes the model and argues that the curriculum trains students to be creatively effective artists not only in the Chicago theatre scene, but also in other locations such as Boston, Minneapolis, and Seattle, where underfunded yet thriving theatre is happening.

North Park University understands the financial challenges of operating within a city setting and works hard at being a good steward of the few resources it has. The institution is relatively small, where most of the students are considered traditional aged and a majority of them graduate with a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science. Originally, the school served students from the Evangelical Swedish Covenant Church, but as demographics changed and, given its location in Chicago, the school has altered its mission and vision to embrace its urban setting. While a majority of students choose to live on or near the thirty-acre campus, many students commute and work multiple jobs to afford the education. With only a $60 million endowment, North Park is a tuition-driven institution that is always balancing its budget dependent upon student enrollment and retention. In other words, North Park University is always looking for inspired and innovative ways to offer a quality experience at a reasonable cost. Therefore, given the institution's financial picture, coupled with its mission of preparing students for lives of significance and service, the administration embraced my idea of basing the theatre curriculum on the Storefront Theatre model.

In order to describe the model to North Park's administration, it was easier to demonstrate what it was not. A quick glance at the Theatre Communication Group's American Theatre provides a visual and textual example for how different North Park is from other well-funded and robust academic institutions. Knowing North Park's financial realities and organizational structure, there would be no possible way to develop a competitive theatre program with those schools advertising the complexity and depth of their programs. Furthermore, North Park does not have the kind of space necessary to develop a demanding design program. The closest model that we could envision exploring would be a community-theatre model, but Chicago is filled with theatre companies with outreach programs serving a vast number of communities. Once I eliminated the programs and ideas that would not work for North Park, I was left with one significant and renewable resource: North Park University is in the heart of one of the most productive theatre settings in the world. Thus the vibrant Chicago Storefront Theatre scene became the model, the laboratory, and the practical goal for us as we developed our curriculum. [End Page 55]

Chicago Storefront Theatre

The special demands of the storefront site itself require a very specific curriculum. First, it is important to understand what is unique about the Chicago Storefront Theatre. When describing storefront theatre to colleagues outside of Chicago, I focus on four areas: the creative use of small spaces; the creative ability to problem-solve with limited resources; the intimate actor–audience dynamic; and the cross-trained artist. Each of these parts highlights a vital aspect necessary for making successful theatre in Chicago, yet these areas are not exclusive to Chicago and have been explored by others in different ways at different times.

In one example from theatre history, Bertolt Brecht envisioned a dynamic theatre as a boxing match where the rowdy audience surrounds the...

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