The 50 Greatest Chicago Moments: Part 4

At any given moment there are as many as 250 theaters of every size, shape and mission putting on a show somewhere in the Chicago area. And from London to New York to Los Angeles, this city has become known as America's quintessential theater town. Here are some landmark moments:

1963: Hull House Theater established by Bob Sickinger. Housed in the now-defunct Jane Addams Center at 3212 N. Broadway, it is widely considered the cornerstone of what would become Chicago's Off-Loop theater movement. Established in 1963 by Bob Sickinger, a Philadelphia-bred director, this operation, which lasted only about five years, attracted a small coterie of artists (among them, actor Mike Nussbaum and a very young David Mamet) and audiences interested in contemporary and classic plays. In many ways it set the model for future endeavors.

1925: The original Goodman Theatre opened adjacent to the Art Institute at Columbus and Monroe; it would be reborn artistically in the late 1970s and ’80s, with Robert Falls making his mark and overseeing the move to a new home at 170 N. Dearborn in 2000.

Late 1920s: Katherine Dunham, a pioneer of African-American dance, began a prototype of her influential company while a student at the University of Chicago.

1959: The Second City settles into its first home at 1842 N. Clark and, along with the earlier Compass (at home in the University of Chicago area), fosters a whole new mode of improvisational comedy and satire.

1974: David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” debuts here.

1975: Steppenwolf Theatre founded in Highland Park by Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise and Terry Kinney. John Malkovich, Joan Allen and all the rest will gradually fill the ranks.

1986: The first of six International Theatre Festivals signals the start of a new global outlook here. Late 1980s-90s: The restoration of the Chicago, Oriental and Palace theaters heralds the return of a Loop Theatre District.

1995: Joffrey Ballet, long based in New York, moves to Chicago.

1999: Though founded in 1986, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater assures its future as a major institution when it moves to its new permanent home on Navy Pier.