Dec. 12--Wearing plastic construction helmets in several colors, children gathered around a box of dirt outside a vacant Near West Side building Saturday.
They picked up toy shovels and dug in, "breaking ground" on the Chicago Children's Theatre's new home: the former Monroe District police station at the corner of Racine Avenue and Monroe Street.
City officials including Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., 27th, and Deputy Mayor Steve Koch joined Chicago first lady Amy Rule and artists at a ceremonial construction launch for the theater. The first phase of construction began this weekend and includes a 149-seat studio that will fill the station's former jail cell block.
During a brief ceremony, officials touted the development of a permanent home for the theater as a positive for the neighborhood and the city. The theater has offered free tickets and transportation to more than 5,000 Chicago-area low-income students each season, officials said.
Founded in 2005, the theater has staged its productions at museums, theaters and other venues around the city and suburbs. Its first production, "A Year with Frog and Toad," based on the stories of Arnold Lobel, launched in 2006 at the Goodman Theatre.
"We believe that theater can transform thinking and behavior. It can influence how we view ourselves and the people and the world around us," said Jacqueline Russell, Chicago Children's Theatre's artistic director. "No one deserves access to this transformative experience more than a child growing up in the city of Chicago."
Deputy Mayor Steve Koch thanked the theater's staff "for the commitment to Chicago's children that a place like this represents."
"It was a vacant building yesterday. It's a vacant building today," Koch said. "But really, tomorrow we're going to fill it with opportunity and it's going to be an incredible place."
Ald. Burnett said he received calls from both the governor's office and the mayor's office in support of the project, which he said is unusual. It caused him to wonder whether "some rich folks" or "real powerful" people were involved with the project, Burnett said.
"Now I see that it's about the appreciation and the love for children," Burnett said.
Initial construction at the property will include a lobby, classrooms, support space and 30 parking spaces, and is scheduled to be finished next winter, officials said.
Another phase of construction, scheduled to end in 2020, includes building a second 299-seat main stage theater to allow the company to serve larger audiences. The construction will also include a dedicated box office, rehearsal and storage spaces and an interactive lobby, officials said.
Chicago Children's Theatre will continue to present main stage productions at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Near North neighborhood until the second phase of construction is done, officials said.
A crowd of a few dozen people came out in support of the theater.
Actress Sandra Delgado attended with her husband, Collaboraction Theatre Company artistic director Anthony Moseley, and their 8-year-old daughter, Stella, who said the theater is "special" because it's for kids.
