Economic troubles continue to rock Chicago’s theater scene with last week’s announcement the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre laid off 12% of its staff.
The good news so far: The 49-year-old theater company hasn’t yet announced plans to cut productions. And while 13 full-time employees were let go, the layoffs also include seven open positions.
But the cutbacks — along with those announced earlier this summer by Lookingglass Theatre — are another blow to the city’s live theater scene, which was a globally recognized cultural asset before being laid low by the pandemic.
When the Lookingglass announced its troubles in late June, the Sun-Times Editorial Board argued it is time for City Hall, business leaders and the philanthropic community to work together and help preserve live theater.
It was true then. Even more so now.
In an announcement Thursday, Steppenwolf officials said the company was negatively affected by declining revenues, a subscriber base that plummeted from 10,000 in 2019 to 6,000 now, and the end of $7.4 million in federal COVID relief money.
“We found that factors keeping our subscribers from coming back included traffic concerns, safety concerns and not wanting to come into the city, and long-lasting COVID concerns,” Steppenwolf Executive Director Brooke Flanagan told the Sun-Times.
Streaming has also hurt Steppenwolf attendance, Flanagan said: “People are continuing to stay home and stream extraordinary programs and series, so the need to look outside the home for [entertainment] content continues to decrease.”
Live theater is not just entertainment, but a Chicago industry that generated $90 million in ticket sales yearly at downtown’s 11 major venues before the pandemic and employed 6,000 people.
Meanwhile, a 2019 study by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation reported the city’s storefront venues out in the neighborhoods had a combined audience of 267,400 in 2018.
More than half of the community theaters had educational programs of some sort that served almost 13,000 students yearly, the study found.
“Theater is as critical to Chicago as are its sports, politics, restaurants and architecture,” this editorial board said in July. “And that’s true whether it’s the important work of Lookingglass, Steppenwolf and the Goodman, or the equally worthy theatrical efforts across the city, such as ETA Theater in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood, Silk Road Rising, Teatro Vista and many more.”
Live theater is a cultural and civic force in Chicago. But it needs help. And it’s time for city leaders to answer the call.
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