Hull House - Theater

Theater

Addams felt that the community benefits from theater plays and thus established an amateur theater in the Hull House in 1899. “The neighborhood Greeks performed the classic plays of antiquity in their own language and the children of European immigrants produced Shakespeare” as well as others. Early one December, the Greeks performed Odysseus in Chicago. The auditorium was filled with a multi-ethnic crowd and packed too close for comfort. The audience was very eager and gave the performers “rapt attention." They watched neighbors and co-workers execute this primitive play, but it was very powerful, plausible, and personal. The actors seemed to pay “tribute to a noble ancestry” and plea for the respect of the audience. Indeed, they did gain this respect because it was said that not even trained college students could give the same play with as much zeal and patriotism. In 1963, when road tours of Broadway productions became common, the Hull House Theater in the Jane Addams Center at 3212 North Broadway fostered the development of Chicago Theater companies for the rest of the century. Founder Bob Sickinger created an environment to nourish young talent with professionalism. Chicago's noted Improvisational theatre scene has roots in Hull House, as Viola Spolin, noted Improvisational techniques instructor, taught classes at Hull House.