Category: News

Following an evening of electric performances by Blair Thomas & Co., eighth blackbird, and Lucky Plush Productions, nearly 300 guests celebrated the launch of Creative Partners at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on Thursday, April 25. A collective that provides professional fundraising to three nationally recognized arts organizations, Creative Partners provides Chicago favorites Blair Thomas, eighth blackbird and Lucky Plush responsive fundraising and administration that allows the companies to focus on what they do best: creating world­class theater, music, and dance.

The event featured performances by Blair Thomas, accompanied by a live string quartet, in The Blackbird, Lucky Plush in a selection from Cinderbox 2.0, and eighth blackbird performing music by Derek Bermel, David Lang and Tom Johnson. Presented in breathless back­to­back format, the performances sent the message that the companies share not only a dedicated development team, but also broad artistic sensibilities ­­ all are doing work that is genre­bending,playful, and technically rigorous.

“The evening was a fantastic showcase for the artistic mastery and creative playfulness these three companies express in their disciplines and it demonstrated clearly why they make such perfect collaborators,” said Charles Twichell of Prince Charitable Trusts. During the event, video segments featured Artistic Director of Lucky Plush Julia Rhoads, Managing Director of eighth blackbird Jen Richards, and Artistic Director of Blair Thomas and Company Blair Thomas in conversation about the history and intent of the collective. “For small and midsize organizations, it’s the only really sustainable way to grow and to take some of the administrative burden off of the artists,” Richards said.

Initially conceived by Rhoads, Creative Partners was strategically developed in collaboration with Thomas and Richards to define the financial structure and terms, short and long­term goals,board involvement, oversight, and succession. “It doesn’t work for us to create an administrative structure that we have to fundraise for to support the administrative structure,” Thomas said.

Creative Partners already benefits from the support of the MacArthur Foundation and the Prince Charitable Trusts, and Director of Development Dana Horst’s position is underwritten for at least two years. For supporters, sponsors and foundations, that means that monies earned by Creative Partners directly funds art, not administrative overhead. Horst offered remarks at the event, along with representatives of the member organizations’ boards: Eva Silverman of Blair Thomas & Co., Sara Solotaroff Mirkin of eighth blackbird, and Elaine Adams of Lucky Plush Productions. Notable attendees included Peter Handler of the Driehaus Foundation, Andrew Michell and Kristen Romans of the Arts & Business Council, Dirk Lohan of Lohan Anderson architecture, and Robert Gallucci of the MacArthur Foundation in addition to prominent supporters and fans of each company.

For listeners, the event proved that the Creative Partners project benefits from the artistic vision that the participating companies share ­­ as Richards put it, “Anyone who would enjoy what eighth blackbird does with music is also going to be thrilled by what Blair does with theater, and totally excited by what Julia does with dance.” Far from competing with one another in the realm of genre­bending performance art, members of the Creative Partners team are providing supporters and fans with a one­stop shop when it comes to giving to the Chicago performing arts scene.

“I wondered whether Creative Partners was some kind of unworkable chimera or was actually just audacious enough to succeed,” Twitchell said. “In the end, we were convinced that it could succeed, and further, that it must to be tried, not just for the sake of these three outstanding companies, but for the arts field more broadly which urgently needs new models of sustainable administration.

Tiny Tempest Farm hosts its annual organic vegetable and herb plant sale for two days this May. In addition, this year will feature two public performances of the family oriented puppet show The Selfish Giant by Blair Thomas & Co.

Owners Sheri Doyel and Blair Thomas, along with their twin sons, moved to Mohawk Road three years ago intending to share Sheri’s home-grown organic goods and Blair’s nationally regarded unique theater and puppetry with the community around Geneva Lake. This May, folks who garden and grow their own food will get a kick-start with the seedlings, and young and old can see the show in the family’s rustic dairy barn, transformed into a performance
space for the two-day event.

Suggested donation for The Selfish Giant is $5.00 for adults and children. Limited seating. Reservations recommended. Email [email protected] or call 262-374-4903.

Friday May 17 and Saturday May 18: Plant Sale each day 10:00am-6:00pm, Performance The Selfish Giant at 5:00pm (Friday); 2:00pm (Saturday). Tiny Tempest Farm is at W4355 Mohawk Road, Lake Geneva, WI 53147

Recently presented at the Milwaukee Art Museum, The Selfish Giant was created by two theater icons— puppeteer Blair Thomas and singer-songwriter Michael Smith. Running time: 35 minutes.

Based on the tale by Oscar Wilde, the original puppets and music tell the story of a grumpy old giant who forbids the children in his village from playing in his beautiful garden. After the children are locked out, the trees and flowers refuse to grow and the garden plunges into an eternal winter. Then one morning, the children sneak back into the garden, bringing with them the joyous rebirth of spring.

This production was originally commissioned by the Chicago Children’s Theater and the world premiere was presented by the Chicago Children’s Theater in January 2008.

Creative Partners, an innovative collaboration in the arts that brings together three leading Chicago companies (Blair Thomas & Company, eighth blackbird, and Lucky Plush Productions) invite audiences to THE UNEXPECTED — a launch event featuring performances and a reception on Thursday, April 25th, 2013, at 7pm at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Tickets ($40) are available at www.cptheunexpected.eventbrite.com. On-site parking will be available for $11 in the MCA garage.

Each company will present work from their award-winning repertory, including Blair Thomas & Co.’s “The Blackbird”, Lucky Plush’s “Cinderbox 2.0”, and eighth blackbird’s “These Broken Wings,” which was recently performed at the Grammys.

Creative Partners pave the way for a new funding model and to make more art. As part of Creative Partners’ joint fundraising model, each company benefits from high-level fundraising assistance and cross-disciplinary audience development. The partner companies share an aesthetic of the new, the genre-bending, and the experimental; above all, each company believes that performances should tell you something and take you somewhere.

On Sunday, March 24, BT&Co will perform their adaption of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant at the Milwaukee Art Museum as part of of their Kohl’s Art Generation Family Sundays. The Selfish Giant will begin at 2:30 p.m. and is free with museum admission.

A collaboration with singer-songwriter Michael Smith, The Selfish Giant adapts a revered fairy tale by Oscar Wilde into 45 minutes of music, magic, and impressive puppetry. “Thomas’s work is always best in an intimate setting,” says Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune, and there are few venues more perfectly suited to Thomas’ work than the Milwaukee Art Museum (not in the least because the building itself is a puppet in its very design).

Blair Thomas & Co, Lookingglass Theatre, and The House Theatre of Chicago are featured in EXPLORING MOBY-DICK – a night of three different adaptations of Herman Melville’s novel, in various sites of performance within the new Logan Center for the Arts in Hyde Park, Chicago. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place on Wednesday, September 18 at 6:30pm at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 East 60th Street, Chicago. Audiences will move from space to space to experience the three adaptations, and are invited to join the artistic staff in the courtyard following the performance to discuss the work. Free advance tickets may be reserved at www.mobydickatlogan.eventbrite.com

These three companies are all sharing mid-process works that explore this seminal American narrative from richly different artistic perspectives. According to Chelsea Keenan of the House Theatre: “What’s so exciting for the audience is to see that process, to get in on something rare and fleeting. What frames the three works at this stage will be not a traditional collaboration, but the source material and the astonishingly disparate directions the three groups will take them — we’ll likely witness surprising overlaps.”

This event takes place as a part of the Summer Inc Residencies with Theater and Performance Studies at The University of Chicago. This project is supported by a grant from the Boeing Corporation.