Wednesday, September 28, 2011

You are Invited!

No comments:
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University 2011 Benefit Gala

Preserving Our Past…Building Our Future.

Dates: October 26, 2011
Times: 5:30pm
Price: $10,000-$500

Honoring Harry Weese
Saluting Sumner and Brenda Sollitt

Gala Co-Chairs:
Laurence and Patricia Booth
Lew and Marge Collens
Maureen and Josef Ehrenberg
Jack Hartray
Seymour Persky
Ben and Cynthia Weese

For further tickets and information, please call Amanda Martinez
Byrne at 312.922.2110 ext. 368.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Auditorium Theatre: a Tour through History

No comments:
By: Lynn Y. Weiner

The opening of Chicago's Auditorium Theatre in December 1889 was a glittering affair attended by the city's elites as well as President Benjamin Harrison, the Governor of Illinois, and the Mayor of Chicago. Designed by the famed architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan (aided by the young draftsman Frank Lloyd Wright), the Theatre was to exemplify the best of American democracy - with an equality of sight and sound from the fanciest box seats to the most distant rows in the fourth balcony. A beautiful facility, the Auditorium was (and is) housed in a building with a massive grey granite and limestone exterior, and an interior exploding with remarkable light, art and design, including a unique proscenium expanding into a multi-arched ceiling and mosaic marble floors and walls. With seating for 4,000, at the time of its opening the Theatre housed the "most complete and costly" stage and organ in the world.

The Theatre is the heart of the Auditorium Building - the first multi-use building in the country -- that at one time also housed a 400-room hotel and floors of business offices. The construction of this building took 17 million bricks, 40,000 square feet of Italian marble, 25 miles of gas and water pipes, and 12,000 electric lights - only 10 years after the first exhibition of light bulbs by Thomas Edison.

In its long history the Theatre has hosted such arts organizations as the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Opera Company, and more recently the Joffrey Ballet. It has been the site of Presidential national conventions, world's fair events, and speakers and entertainers ranging from Booker T. Washington, John Philip Sousa, and Sarah Bernhardt, to Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, and Hillary Clinton. After a period of stagnation during the depression and World War II (when a bowling alley was constructed on the theater stage, for the recreation of servicemen and women) Roosevelt University bought and restored the dilapidated and decayed Auditorium Building; the Theatre reopened in 1967 with a performance by the New York City Ballet. Since then it has hosted Broadway hits, rock concerts, and dance performances from around the world. To visit the Theater for a show is wonderful enough - but the venue is in itself a second performance and feast for the senses.

Upcoming events are listed at: http://auditoriumtheatre.org/wb/pages/home/performances-events/performances.php


Lynn Y. Weiner
Professor of History
Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Roosevelt University

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Know a Family Man? Win tickets to see Trace Adkins and Craig Campbell!

No comments:

Do you know a real Family Man?


What makes your family man so special? Tell us and he could win 4 premium seats for Trace Adkins on Sunday, October 2nd and a meet and greet with family man Craig Campbell! Visit our Family Man page to enter.

Must be a "fan" of the Auditorium Theatre to enter.

A winner will be chosen at random on Thursday September 29th at 12:00pm.


Tickets for Trace Adkins are available HERE.


Friday, September 16, 2011

Audition for Too Hot to Handel!

No comments:

We are seeking voices for the Too Hot Choir, the all-volunteer chorus that provides a joyful sound for our production of Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah. The audition/first rehearsal is September 19 at 7pm at Old St. Patrick's Church. No need to prepare anything for the audition; you'll learn the music as a group first!



Audition for Too Hot To Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah Choir
Monday, September 19, 2011
7:00-9:15pm

Old St. Patrick's Church (Adams & Des Plaines)
Please contact Bill Fraher at BillF@oldstpats.org or at 312.831.9353 for more information.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Why You Should Come to My Show... by Susan Werner

No comments:
Why you should come to my show at the Auditorium Theatre on Saturday September 24th at 8 p.m.



Hello all you nice people.

I do lots of shows (over a 100 a year) and have been doing shows for 20 years all over the US and Canada.

Most nights the club or concert hall is just a place where you go set up your gear and sing to people. No big deal. But some nights you have to try to live up to the hall itself...

The AUD is one of those rare gigs where you know you better have your "A game" together. I mean - Janis Joplin played here. Jimi Hendrix played here. Booker T. Washington spoke here.

Me, I dropped a drink here (spilled a glass of white wine on stage, once).

Plus, everybody's seated right on the stage with you, looking out at the hall behind you. As a performer, you've got to give them a reason to look at you instead of the gold-leaf, the murals, the balconies, and the magnificence of it all.

Yeah, it's just another gig. Right.

Susan Werner



On Stage With...Susan Werner
BUY TICKETS

Dates: Saturday, September 24, 2011
Times: 8:00 pm
Price: $75-$50


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Arts are my Inspiration [Heather Intro!]

No comments:
By Heather E. Heslup

Some of my earliest memories include sitting with my dad, sketching, listening to music, watching/ critiquing films with my family or going to the latest Alvin Ailey performance! Needless to say the Arts run deep within me and have inspired every move I’ve made in life. In high school I gravitated toward visual and performing arts. I loved my painting classes and reveled in my drama course - such that by my senior year I was given the honor of directing a segment of the schools spring play, Into The Woods.

Born and raised in Chicago, I ventured to Washington D.C. for college where I received my B.A. in Media Production from Howard University. There I worked at the campus’ main performance venue, Cramton Auditorium. At the Cramton I wore many hats on any given day, from assistant to the House Manager, Assistant to the Production Manager to Lighting Technician. My 3 year experience at Cramton deepened my appreciation and love for the Performing Arts.

I began my career at Public Broadcast Service, trying to connect with my media degree, but after a few years I yearned for more. During a visit home I attended a concert with some friends and began feeling very nostalgic as I watched the stage crew work – I remember the hard and long days of work and the roar of a crowd once a show ended. The feeling that overcame me, knowing that I was a part of a team that brought this experience to the public, was such an amazing feeling at that moment that media was no longer my focus; with that I made a decision to enroll in the Masters of Arts Management Program at Columbia College Chicago. I made my journey back to Chicago and towards my future in Arts Management.

I have been back in Chicago for 5 years and have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful organizations. I worked 2 seasons with the Grant Park Music festival - my first introduction to classical music. During my graduate studies I was awarded a Columbia College’s Diversity Scholarship for my efforts in planning various events for Columbia College’s Office of Multicultural Affairs. This award allowed me to enroll in the International Arts Management course offered in my graduate program; I had the extreme pleasure of traveling to Vienna and Prague, exploring various arts institutions. The education I received at the Grant Park Music Festival proved very beneficial to me in Europe!!

Before coming to Auditorium Theatre I held the role of Community Schools Program Associate for the Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP), an organization dedicated to Arts Education. In my role I helped bring various after-school arts programs to Chicago Public Schools. My experience at CCAP fueled my long-time desire to do work that was meaningful and beneficial not only to myself but to the community at large. Naturally, joining the Education team at The Auditorium Theatre was the perfect next step. I am extremely enthused to not only be back in a Performing Arts environment, but to serve as the Project Manager for the Theatre’s latest education initiative, the ArtsXchange program. This program thrills me because it is a way to directly change how teachers and school administrators in Chicago Public Schools approach arts education and understand its impact on student learning.

All in all I feel blessed that I can say I am on the right path. I can’t wait for what’s in store for me at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Hallelujah Broadway on WTTW this Monday!

No comments:
Don't miss your chance to see this sneak peak of Hallelujah Broadway!



Labor Day Monday, September 5, 2011
at approximately 10:05pm on WTTW

For the full experience, check out
Hallelujah Broadway
Saturday, September 17 | 7:30pm

$10 off* ticket discount ends on Labor Day!
Use code: AUDITORIUM. Don't miss out!
*Available on price levels II & III only. Valid until 11:59 pm on 9.5.2011. May not be combined with other offers or promotions. Not valid on previously purchased tickets. Subject to availability; restrictions apply.

Buy Tickets
Ticketmaster | 800.982.ARTS (2787)
Box Office: 50 E. Congress Pkwy
Subscriptions and Groups 10+: 312.431.2357


Disqus for Auditorium Theatre Blog