May 17--A new archive of Chicago theater performances is being created through Actors' Equity and the Chicago Public Library that will allow anyone with a valid photo ID to watch recorded shows like the recent hits "Sender" and "Byhalia, Mississippi." It was announced Tuesday that The Chicago Film Archive of Performance, a program that mirrors the New York Public Library's Theatre on Film and Tape Archive which has documented productions since 1970, will receive a permanent home in the Harold Washington Library's Special Collections and Preservation Division.
The 21 productions currently included in the archive are: "Animals Out of Paper" (Shattered Globe Theatre), "Byhalia, Mississippi" (The New Colony and Definition Theatre Company), "Circle-Machine" (Oracle Productions), "Direct From Death Row: The Scottsboro Boys" (Raven Theatre), "The Drowning Girls" (Signal Ensemble Theatre), "The Few" (Steep Theatre Company), "The Hairy Ape" (Oracle Productions), "The Jungle" (Oracle Productions), "Le Switch" (About Face Theatre), "Miss Buncle's Book" Lifeline Theatre, "Murder Ballad" (Bailiwick Chicago Theatre), "No Wake" (Route 66 Theatre Company), "Porcelain" (Prologue Theatre Company), "Posh" (Steep Theatre Company), "Sender" (A Red Orchid Theatre), "Really Really" (Interrobang Theatre Project), "Red" (Redtwist Theatre), "Rolling" (Jackalope Theatre), "United Flight 232" (The House Theatre of Chicago), "The Wild Party" (Bailiwick Chicago Theatre) and "Yasmina's Necklace" (16th Street Theatre).
The first ten recordings ("The Wild Party," "Circle-Machine," "Red," "Really, Really," "The Jungle," "Murder Ballad," "The Drowning Girls," "Porcelain," "Direct from Death Row the Scottsboro Boys" and "Miss Buncle's Book") are non-circulable but can be accessed during Reading Room hours. Newer recordings are planned to be ready for viewings by the end of June.
Five more productions will also be added to the archive by the end of June, with a goal to reach 40 recordings by the end of the year. Final selections of which live productions, interviews and events to film are made by C-FAP's executive director Drew Blau, based on suggestions from the board of directors and recommendations of the Joseph Jefferson Committee.
A launch event featuring the cast of Oracle Productions' "The Jungle" will be held at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., on May 26 at 6:30 p.m.
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