Dec. 21--Redmoon, an unusual performance company specializing in public theatrical spectacles and a part of Chicago's cultural fabric for 25 years, is going out of business, effective immediately.
"We really wanted to escalate our scale of impact on the city and knowingly took some risks that ultimately did not pay off," longtime artistic director Jim Lasko said Monday, his voice choked with emotion.
Those risks boiled down to moving into a new warehouse space at 2120 S. Jefferson St., in the Pilsen neighborhood, which required a monthly rent payment in excess of $30,000, and, secondly, ramping up the budget to create the 2014 Great Chicago Fire Festival, a widely ambitious combination of neighborhood outreach and a spectacle on the banks of the Chicago River that attracted tens of thousands, among them the state's and city's highest-ranking politicians.
That latter choice resulted in a high-profile downtown performance that was widely criticized for its lack of impressive flames. A 2015 edition of the Fire Festival featured a roaring blaze, but the damage in perception was done, and city officials backed away from the future of the event. This year's festival in September, relocated to Northerly Island, also faced some heat from the Burnham Park Yacht Club for raining embers and ash onto the club.
More problematic still was Redmoon's inability to create a viable rental and event business inside its new space. There was a dispute with the landlord over subletting the space and presenting live events, such as the aborted attempt this year to hold a concert involving Chief Keef. The plan was to have the controversial rapper appear via a hologram image from a soundstage in California.
The building's owner, Phillip Mumford, did not return calls requesting comment. Mumford sued Redmoon in October seeking $62,082.22 in unpaid September and October rent.
"The dream of creating a sustainable model for the funding of the organization could not be realized," Redmoon board chair Ralph Senst said Monday. "We nearly were there."
Nearly, alas, was not enough to pay the bills.
Redmoon Theater was not able to pay the December rent that was due Friday. It has not yet filed in court for dissolution of a nonprofit, but that step is soon to come.
The theater and Mumford are due back in court Wednesday.
The theater got in touch with its supporters by email Monday afternoon.
In essence, Redmoon had wanted to use its facility rental and its Redmoon For Hire service, which provided Redmoon-style entertainment for private and corporate events, as a way to fund its socially progressive work in Chicago neighborhoods. But that unusual model was hard to fit into existing models of philanthropic support. And unlike, say, the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, Redmoon was never able to develop long-running profitable shows in Chicago, as did Cirque in Las Vegas.
