How’s this for impressive credentials: a 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, an Honorary OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and numerous Joseph Jefferson awards.
But when Barbara Gaines first started the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) in 1986, she had no idea that she would be sitting firmly atop the theater world nearly 30 years later. She only knew that she had a profound love for the works of William Shakespeare, instilled by her Northwestern professorDr. Wallace Bacon. “His was the most important class I’ve ever taken,” she says.
Call it karma. Like the opening of their handsome Navy Pier flagship theater in October 1999, exactly 400 years after the opening of London’s Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s works were first performed. Or the irony of a mentor named Bacon who taught her to truly appreciate Shakespeare. The Bard is the driving force, Gaines says. “I get to explore the most extraordinary works ever written expressive of the human condition… Shakespeare is our soul. The thing that holds it all together, our spinal cord.”
And as Gaines is quick to point out, she is not on this journey alone. The creative team at CST is a very tightknit group of artists who “share the same ascetic, which is to create life in a very dark universe.” Gaines is the Founder and Artistic Director, but Executive Director Criss Henderson has been a treasured business partner for the past 25 years, and working in tandem with Creative Producer Rick Boynton and Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin has been a great joy for her.
“Yes, I have the power to hire people, and it makes me deeply humble,” she confides. “Chicago has a hell of a lot of extraordinary actors that don’t get enough work.” So CST does their best to cast shows to reflect the deep talent and diversity that can be found here. “Quality has to come first. The actors must be able to bring life to these 400-year-old works.”
What does power mean to Gaines? “Power, for me, is a reverence for life, a respect for other people’s differences. Power is empathy; power is giving back. That’s why we do this work: to help other people feel less alone. That’s what gives Shakespeare the power to in some way illuminate, inspire and entertain audiences.” And that’s the great gift that Gaines has given, and will continue to give, to Chicago.
Keeping Shakespeare relevant: CST continues their family outreach program with Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will run February 22 to March 22 in their Courtyard Theater. The 75-minute production will be followed by actor Q-and-A after the show, then photo opps in the lobby for young fans.
