In 1922, William Owen and Malvina Sawyer Goodman donate funds to the Art Institute to create a professional theatre and repertory company with a school of drama as a tribute to their son, Kenneth Sawyer Goodman (1883-1918). The first class of the Goodman School of Drama is admitted on January 5, 1925. On October 20, the theatre and department of drama are dedicated as The Kenneth Sawyer Goodman Memorial Theatre and School of Drama.
• • •
Thomas Wood Stevens , a collaborator and close personal friend of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, heads both the theatre and school of drama. In 1913, Stevens had created at Carnegie Institute the first degree-granting program of a school of the arts of theatre. In 1922 he began working with William Goodman to build a similar program in Chicago. Stevens creates a place for experimentation and learning — a professional school of the arts of theatre (called the Studio) combined with a producing repertory company (the Repertory) that presents productions of plays as dramatic art.
• • •
Muriel Brown , who has a great interest in children’s theatre and had started one in her hometown in Indianapolis before studying at Carnegie Institute, comes to the Goodman School of Drama in 1925 as Stevens’ executive secretary and assistant. Stevens is aware of her dream of a theatre where “classics could be performed for children by adult actors.” By hiring Brown, Stevens creates the position of Children’s Theatre Director. In 1926-27, the School presents the first planned season of performances for children in the United States.
• • •
Mary Agnes Doyle , who has her own dramatic school in Chicago, is recruited by Stevens to teach voice at the Studio. Doyle performs with the Repertory and remains with the school for many years as a speech teacher. She is well-known for the daily diction drills she creates for her students as well as for her very prim and proper manner and outlook.
• • •
Students learn the craft of theatre in the classroom, by working with professionals in the Repertory, and through their own performances in the Studio and the children’s theatre. Since a children’s theatre was not in the original plans for the department of drama, there are no funds to promote it. Mr. and Mrs. William Goodman help to gain attention for these plays by giving luncheons and teas for society editors and escorting newspaper writers and photographers to matinee performances. Through their efforts the children’s theatre receives a great deal of attention and covers all its production costs.
• • •
The Repertory presents 44 productions in its first five years and is enormously successful until the stock market crash of 1929 brings a serious decline in attendance. After the financial failure of the 1930-31 season, the Art Institute votes to close the Repertory and operate only the Studio, now renamed the Goodman School of Drama. Stevens resigns, and Dr. Maurice Gnesin is appointed the new head of the School.
• • •
One of the most important figures in the history of the Goodman Children’s Theatre comes to the School in 1931 when Gnesin hires Charlotte B. Chorpenning as Children’s Theatre Director. Chorpenning becomes the most powerful influence in the children's theatre movement during her 24 years at the school. During her lifetime she writes at least 55 plays, virtually doubling the mid-century repertoire of American children's plays at a time when few professional playwrights wrote for young audiences.
• • •
In 1933, David Itkin appears in the lead role of Anathema directed by Maurice Gnesin, marking the first time a faculty member performs in an all-student production. This tradition will last 35 years. Itkin had emigrated from Russia in 1929 and was hired by Stevens to direct a production of The Golem. Although he spoke no English, Itkin did not use an interpreter and directed the play by tones of voice only.
• • •
Together Gnesin and Itkin, who is now a respected teacher and director, shape the vision and curriculum of the School and give it the feeling of a European conservatory. During the 1940s, the two lay the foundation for the School’s long-term survival, building a national reputation as one of the great theatre training programs in the country.
• • •
David Itkin’s daughter Bella Itkin graduates from the Goodman School of Drama in 1943. During more than 50 years teaching at the School, she becomes nationally known as an acting coach whose students include Kevin Anderson, Linda Hunt, Harvey Korman, Joe Mantegna, Elizabeth Perkins and the late Geraldine Page. Her career includes terms as chair of the Performance Program and 15 years as artistic director of the Goodman Children’s Theatre, and she influences the lives of many who train at the School.
• • •
After Charlotte Chorpenning’s death in 1955, Louise Dale Spoor is appointed Children’s Theatre Director. A graduate of both the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Goodman School of Drama, she has been business manager of the School since 1931. In 1955, she founds Coach House Press to publish plays for children’s theatre. Spoor heads the Goodman Children’s Theatre until her death in 1958, and is succeeded by Bella Itkin.
• • •
At the end of the 1950s, the School is losing money and watching its audience base erode. Upon Gnesin’s death in 1957, the Art Institute conducts a national search to replace him and hires Dr. John Reich as the new head of the Art Institute’s Department of Drama. Reich is given wide-ranging power to rebuild the School and sets as a long-term goal the return of a professional repertory company.
• • •
Reich recruits Dr. Charles McGaw to the position of Senior Producer in 1957. McGaw has gained a national reputation in actor training with his book Acting is Believing, published in 1955. He assists Reich in pursuing his goal of returning a professional company to the Goodman stage. That season a professional actor is hired to play the lead role in a student production directed by Reich. Critics are invited to review performances for the first time since the demise of the Repertory in 1931, and Reich begins a strong campaign to interest the press in the Goodman Theatre.
• • •
In 1958, Reich receives a Ford Foundation grant of $10,000 as one of the 10 best producing directors in professional resident theatre in the United States. He uses the grant to hire top Broadway and London actors as guest artists at the School. Both Reich and the Goodman School of Drama receive much attention over the next several years as this grant enables him to hire actors such as Morris Carnovsky, Eugenie Leontovitch, Walter Abel, Zoe Caldwell and Lillian Gish to perform with students.
• • •
In 1959, for the first time, the Art Institute allows Reich to conduct a full subscription campaign, no longer restricting subscriptions to its members. The Goodman School of Drama grows in stature and professionalism in the 1960s, receiving critical acclaim and nationwide interest, and it returns to prominence as a center for theatre training. The pressure of operating both the School and a production company intensifies, and in 1966 Reich appoints McGaw dean of the Goodman School of Drama so he can concentrate more fully on creating a professional repertory company.
• • •
In 1966, Actors’ Equity Association gives the Goodman School of Drama two years to create a full Equity theatre or return to student-only productions. The Goodman subscription base has grown from 1,000 to 15,000 subscribers since 1959, and although Equity sees the benefit of students in training working with professionals, it is wary of setting a precedent. In April 1969, Reich announces that the Art Institute has the funds to finance a professional repertory theatre.
• • •
During its first five decades, the Goodman School of Drama trains such artists as Theoni V. Aldredge, Bruce Boxleitner, Melinda Dillon, Scott Ellis, Linda Hunt, Gloria Foster, Harvey Korman, Eugene Lee, Karl Malden, Joe Mantegna, James Maronek, Lois Nettleton, Geraldine Page, Jose Quintero, Lee Richardson, Joseph Slowik, Steve Smith, Carrie Snodgress and Sam Wanamaker,among many others. The School makes significant contributions to dramatic arts in Chicago and is a rich component of the artistic life of the city. For many years and to many people, the Goodman Theatre and School of Drama is the sum and substance of drama in Chicago.
• • •
In October 1969, for the first time since 1931, the Repertory produces a season of fully professional theatre on the Goodman Theatre stage. As the Repertory’s activities take on greater importance, there is less of a connection between the School and the professional company. The Studio Theatre is renovated for students of the Goodman School of Drama. The renovation allows the School to produce more plays and student productions in the Studio Theatre open to the public for the first time in the School’s history.
• • •
On September 8, 1975, the trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago vote to phase out the Goodman School of Drama over a three-year period, citing a $200,000 deficit . No new students are admitted as the School prepares to close in May 1978. During these next three years, faculty, staff, students, alumni and interested citizens mount a campaign to save the School, and various possibilities are explored for how to keep it alive.
• • •
The Shapiro Report of March 6, 1972, had found that it was possible for the Goodman Theatre to support itself without the Art Institute. On July 1, 1977, following recommendations of the report, the Repertory Company of the Goodman Theatre incorporates as the Chicago Theatre Group, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation separate from the Art Institute of Chicago. Today the Goodman Theatre continues to build a worldwide reputation as one of the premiere not-for-profit regional theatres in the United States.
• • •
In August 1977, the Rev. John T. Richardson, C.M., then Executive Vice President of DePaul University, assisted by Dr. Howard Sulkin, Vice President for Planning, begin to investigate and negotiate the acquisition of the School. On February 6, 1978, an agreement is signed providing for the School to be incorporated into the University. On July 1, 1978, the Goodman School of Drama becomes the ninth college of DePaul University. One observer writes, “So the future has gone from ‘curtains’ to more curtain calls. For that, applause.”
• • •
Rea Warg , dean of the Goodman School of Drama since McGaw had retired in February 1978, leads the School while a national search is conducted for a new dean. The School is housed in the McGaw Fine Arts Building on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus and shares space with the School of Music and Art Department. Children’s theatre performances continue to take place at the Goodman Theatre, and other performances take place at various venues.
• • •
In the spring of 1979, the University appoints John Ransford Watts as the new dean of the DePaul/Goodman School of Drama. During the first year of Watts’ administration, the Bachelor of Fine Arts curriculum is revamped into a four-year training program integrated with the academic classes of DePaul. The Master of Fine Arts curriculum, which had been loosely structured and often completed in 12 – 18 months, is expanded to a full three-year program. The School has enrolled approximately 100 students and the faculty/staff numbers about 25.
• • •
On August 8, 1980, the Children’s Theatre Association of America presents the prestigious Sara Spencer Award for excellence in children’s theatre to the DePaul/Goodman Children’s Theatre. Artistic Director Bella Itkin accepts the award on behalf of the School. During the last 50 years, the children’s theatre has “sought to inspire, educate and develop a more responsible and creative young citizenry with the belief that today’s young audience will create the world of tomorrow.” Countless Chicagoans trace their first theatre experience to a performance of the Goodman Children’s Theatre.
• • •
During the 1980-81 season, performances of the School’s adult subscription series moves to the Cortelyou Commons Building on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus after the former dining hall is converted into a theatre. Classes take place in various rooms at the University. The design studio doubles as a performance space and Alumni Hall and Hayes Healy Gym are used for movement and dance classes. Throughout the 1980s, Watts constantly searches for and negotiates to obtain a theatre or building as a permanent training and performance space for the School.
• • •
The first Talent-Linkage-Chicago Day takes place in June 1981. Developed by Watts, TLC Day presents graduating Acting students from the BFA and MFA programs to Chicago-area theatre, film and television producers, casting directors and agents. Later the event will expand to include graduates of the Design/Technical and Theatre Studies programs. Today the Graduate Showcases encompass two weeks of activities in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as the School presents several events designed to introduce graduates to the profession.
• • •
In March 1985, WTTW — Chicago’s public television station— broadcasts a documentary it has produced about the DePaul/Goodman School of Drama with students, faculty and administration of the School. The documentary is entitled So You Wanna Be An Actor? and refers to the School as the “ West Point of theatre training.” The School now numbers about 35 faculty and staff and enrolls approximately 200 students in its Acting, Directing and Design programs.
• • •
As the five-year transfer agreement between the Art Institute and DePaul University ends, the license to use the Goodman name expires. In June 1985, the board of trustees of the University adopts a new title. Beginning with the 1985-86 season, the School is known as The Theatre School at DePaul University, founded as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925. Also, for the first time in 60 years, the children’s theatre, now led by Artistic Director Carol D. Delk, ceases production at the Goodman Memorial Theatre and moves its season of performances to the auditorium of the First National Bank.
• • •
In the summer of 1986, after an extensive evaluation of The Theatre School’s first eight years at DePaul University, the board of trustees and administration give their endorsement to the School and guarantee its future at the University. With this endorsement, DePaul purchases the St. Vincent’s Elementary School on North Kenmore Avenue. The former parish school becomes the School’s new training facility, housing administrative and faculty offices; classrooms; costume, prop and scene shops; a lighting lab and other facilities. Later the School obtains the former convent across the street and creates The Theatre School Annex to house more offices and studios.
• • •
In 1987, The Theatre School creates the Theatre Studies Program. This allows the School to expand its curriculum and increase its student body while still maintaining small enrollment in the Acting, Directing and Design programs. The Theatre Studies Program is a complementary and important addition to the work of the School. The program awards degrees in Playwriting, History and Criticism, Children’s Drama and General Theatre Studies. The Children’s Drama degree is later phased out and a Theatre Management degree is added in 1992.
• • •
Over the years, The Theatre School develops its training in several ways. Movement training expands to include work in various physical disciplines, including modern dance, yoga, Alexander technique, Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® and stage combat. Voice and speech training incorporates the work of Lessac, Kristen Linklater, Edith Skinner and work in language and dialects. Collaboration between disciplines is encouraged. As the curriculum deepens, the primary philosophy of the School remains the same — to provide intense and practical training in all aspects of the theatre arts in order to prepare young artists for careers in the profession.
• • •
On May 26, 1988, DePaul University announces the purchase of the Blackstone Theatre from the Shubert Organization. The company had hoped for a hospitable buyer, concerned that the theatre would be torn down in favor of building a parking lot. When the University acquires the theatre as a permanent performance space for The Theatre School, the Chicago Tribune hails the move in an editorial: “ DePaul University’s purchase of the Blackstone Theatre deserves a standing ovation … the promise of an exciting new life for the venerable Blackstone must be cheered enthusiastically by all those sharing a love of the performing arts.”
• • •
On February 7, 1989, seven months after the purchase is announced, the Blackstone Theatre reopens its doors to a full house of school children for a production of The Phantom Tollbooth. The grand reopening occurs on March 21 with The Theatre School’s production of The Misanthrope. Preliminary renovations of the facility cost $700,000 and include the purchase of a 240-dimmer computerized lighting system, more than 300 lighting instruments, a state-of-the-art sound system, a Sennheiser Infra-red listening system and the complete replacement of the stage floor. The School brings an audience of nearly 50,000 people to the theatre each season.
• • •
The first annual DePaul Theatre School Awards Gala takes place in May 1989 to raise funds for the purchase of the Blackstone Theatre and for student scholarship support. During the next 17 years, the Gala honors more than 90 distinguished artists with The Theatre School’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and raises more than $2.1 million. The Gala is attended by hundreds of people annually and is considered one of the premiere social occasions of the Chicago season.
• • •
In 1991, the Rev. John T. Richardson, C.M. (now DePaul President), is presented a Joseph Jefferson Award for his outstanding leadership and efforts in the rescuing, nurturing and refurbishing of both The Theatre School and the Blackstone Theatre. Chicago's First Lady Maggie Daley presents the award, saying, "As if they were two abandoned or orphaned children, the Goodman School in 1978 and the Blackstone Theatre in 1988 were adopted and given homes by DePaul University. As if they were long-lost siblings meant for each other, the now 66-year-old school and the 80-year-old theatre have since been able to enjoy prolonged and productive lives."
• • •
On November 20, 1992, the Blackstone Theatre is renamed the Merle Reskin Theatre, acknowledging a major gift received from DePaul College of Law alumnus Harold Reskin, a Chicago real-estate developer, and his wife Merle. The gift, pledged at the time of the theatre’s purchase in 1988, comes about through the Reskin’s friendship Richardson. The renaming is celebrated with a star-studded event that includes the lighting of a new electronic marquee over Balbo Drive, returning a lively theatrical atmosphere to the South Loop.
• • •
In 1996, The Theatre School Alumni Board, which has existed in various forms since its first incarnation as the Goodman School of Drama Alumni Association in the mid-1970s, reassembles. The Board adopts a constitution and begins working to promote intellectual, cultural, social and spiritual ties among alumni of The Theatre School and Goodman School of Drama and current students. In 1997, Assistant Dean John Bridges helps connect the School’s vast alumni network when he premieres a new e-mail newsletter, “Theatre School News,” which is published monthly online at the School’s website.
• • •
The current select enrollment in undergraduate and graduate programs of The Theatre School numbers approximately 300 students from around the United States and several foreign countries. The faculty and staff numbers more than 100. Approximately 1,000 applicants undertake the stringent admissions process of national auditions and interviews. The school accepts only a small fraction of applicants to the School and offers concentrations in Acting; Arts Leadership; Directing; Costume, Scenic and Lighting Design; Theatre Technology; Costume Technology; Stage Management, Playwriting, Theatre Management, Dramaturgy/Criticism and Theatre Arts.
• • •
The Theatre School continues the tradition of the Goodman School of Drama in being regarded as “a legendary training ground” for professional actors, directors, designers and other theatre artists. The School boasts thousands of alumni who work around the world in theatre, film and television, as well as in numerous other successful careers. The list includes Kevin Anderson, Gillian Anderson, Paula Cale, Kelly Coffield, Criss Henderson, Nambi E. Kelly, Kevin J. O'Connor, Zak Orth, David New, Elizabeth Perkins, Amy Pietz, John C. Reilly, Michael Rooker, Casey Siemaszko, Larry Yando and countless others.
• • •
The School produces more than 200 public performances each season, featuring students in all aspects of production. The Theatre School Showcase and Chicago Playworks seasons perform at the historic Merle Reskin Theatre, the School’s own extraordinary, state-of-the-art theatre laboratory. New Directors Series productions are produced in black-box studio theatres around Chicago, most recently at the Athenaeum Stage Three. The School’s Workshop series presents nearly 20 productions each year in spaces at The Theatre School building. With classes during the day and rehearsal and performance at night, the School is immersed in not only the theory but the practice of theatre.
• • •
In July 1999, Watts retires as Dean and the university appoints Michael Maggio, associate artistic director of the Goodman Theatre and a professional director with more than 20 years experience and a nationwide reputation, as the eighth head of the School. During Maggio’s season as dean, the school presents one of the most ambitious productions of its 75-year history when faculty member James Ostholthoff directs both parts of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic Angels in America in rotating repertory.
• • •
In August 2000, Maggio passes away following an illness. John Culbert, previously the school’s Associate Dean, is named Acting Dean in July 2000 and after a national search, is named Dean in July 2001.
— written by Lara Goetsch on the occasion of the school’s 75th anniversary, 2000.
