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Rubicon Theatre Project is the brainchild of a gang of theatre and art students from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. I wish I could pinpoint some catharsis of thought or even just an inkling into why this company came into being, but I can’t. From our very first meeting sometime in late November of 2004, it was clear that there was an overabundance of ideas, opinions, and thoughts for what each of us thought this company should be and where we each thought it should go. We continue to deal with these sorts of artistic issues to this day. The truth is that we had a great connection to a performance space as the Apollo Theater here in Chicago had recently opened a studio space in the basement of their mainstage space (Formerly Act One Bookstore). Jeromy, Josh and Adam were all working at the Apollo at the time, and honestly, that was a large part of why this thing called Rubicon is now in existence. The thoughts of “we can do this” and “this is possible” came to mind as far as starting a theatre company was concerned. Micah, Kassi, Bridget and I all came in from there. I
began, and continue to serve as, the chairman of the board and board president with Jeromy VP and Kassi serving as secretary/treasurer. At first, we thought labeling everyone a “co-artistic director” would be a way to maintain a checks and balances within the company. Over time, we realized that trying to manage the artistic endeavors of a theatre company with seven artistic directors proved to be difficult. From that point forward, Josh became the Artistic Director, I became Managing Director, Adam Director of Public Relations, Jeromy Director of Outreach and Development, and Bridget our Graphic Artist.
In November and December 2004, we started having regular meetings about a mission statement, company name, company identity, scripts to consider, how to raise money, etc… I don’t think we really knew or fully understood the gravity of what we were undertaking, so perhaps it was simply that we were too stupid to quit when the going got tough. Over the next few months came our incorporation with the State of Illinois on February 16, 2005, the selection of our first show script, Only You by Timothy Mason, and the idea of a summer fundraising drive in the form of a well-written letter begging our family and friends for money. I remember that some of our other name finalists were “Cogent 6 Theatre Company” and “Pointilist Theatre Company.” Yikes.
In the fall of 2005, we produced Only You at the Apollo Theater studio. To date, Only You has sold more tickets than any other show we’ve done, and it was also the most far removed from the types of shows we vowed to do under our mission. What that says about what our audiences want, who knows. A couple months later, we had our first annual “The Most Gaudy, Absurd, Flashy, Ridiculous, Nonsensical, Ostentatious, Loud Holiday Sweater Benefit. Basically, we thought it’d be fun to wear ugly holiday sweaters around the holidays and make money for our cause. As luck would have it, the first MAJOR snowstorm of the winter happened that night and the city pretty much shut down. Wonderful.
The following spring, we produced the world premiere production of Brain Children, by Liza Lentini, a New-York based playwright we met through one of our random Craig’s List script searches. The next season (our 2nd season), we stayed plenty busy with another world premiere production of 11 In 1 Out by another “Point” grad, Wyatt Kuether, in repertory with Micah rocking out to Eric Bogosian’s Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll. Last fall, we also participated in Suzan-Lori Parks’ year-long play festival aptly titled 365 Days/365 Plays. We rounded out this season with a fun production of The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite, where we had a live foley artist on stage making all the sound effects for the actors. In Summer of 2007, we had our first ever “Reactions,” a staged reading series where we spotlighted two new plays by two Chicagoland playwrights.
At the moment of writing this, we’re already into pre-production for the 3rd Season opener and Midwest Premiere of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal. Last fall, we brought in two of our newest ensemble members, Michele Gross and Ron Popp. We recently added a grant writer to our board of directors and initiated an Artistic Associate Program which includes Chicago Playwright, Bridget Fallen.
Now, getting back to why we started this whole thing in the first place. I could start rambling about how “we’ve witnessed a dumbing down of society because people are obsessed with CGI and special effects” and that “we produce thought provoking theatre” or that we “want to force change in our culture.” The fact is that we hope that all of those things are true, but then what theatre company doesn’t feel that their work does that? I sometimes wonder myself why we started this company, and I’m sure other ensemble members wonder that too. The truth is that we love theatre and we love what theatre can do and how it can affect an individual, a group of people, even what it can do the artists that practice their craft within the theater. Why ever it is that theatre began thousands of years ago: the sharing of stories, political change, cultural empowerment, we still take on the attitude of “we can do this”. And we can only hope that we can empower the voice of the people that sit in the house during one of our shows and make them realize that they can have an impact on the world when they leave the theater. As long as there is heart and soul and love for not only the work at hand, but also each other,
Rubicon will have a home in the Chicago theatre community. I think we’re headed in a great direction.
Scott Allen Luke
Managing Director
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