Chicago Shakespeare benefits from demise of Chicago Muse
By Hedy Weiss Theater Critic/hweiss@suntimes.com June 28, 2012 10:30AM
The ending of one theatrical endeavor will serve to bolster the efforts of another that is already well underway.
Chicago Muse, an organization dedicated to the development of new musical theater projects, has ceased operations. But it will contribute the corporation’s assets of more than $500,000 to Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST), a company with a well-established track record of developing new musicals, particularly those designed for family audiences. The Chicago Muse contribution will be used to establish a newly endowed fund at CST in support of the theater’s ongoing commitment to commission, develop and produce new musicals.
In a prepared statement, Rick Boynton, Chicago Shakespeare’s creative producer — who heads up CST’s program to develop new work (and who also is the newly elected president of the board of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) in New York), said: “We are thrilled to accept this gift and establish an ongoing investment in the creation of new musicals that has, for more than a decade, been an important aspect of our producing work.”
In the fall, Chicago Shakespeare Theater will announce inaugural projects supported by the new endowed fund. In addition, it will host the spring 2013 conference of NAMT, drawing the leaders of America’s top musical theatre organizations to Chicago.
