The Origin Story
Week 1 Social Media recap of 20th anniversary year
We could never have guessed that anything would come of it. We got the call and joined together to create one single solitary "black and white silent play."
Since there wasn’t an entity to produce the show, the director, having been faced with the question from the Chicago City Hall worker: “Well, whatcha gonna call it?”, scratched in “Silent Theatre.” How apropos.
Like countless ensembles before us, we planned to light up the town and disappear in the dark of the closing night curtains. Preferably floating away on adoring applause.
There were no other plans.
And then came the second call, "We bought a bus!"
Something happened in the adventure that followed. In that year spent touring the country in a black-and-white school bus, we found a collection of souls who believe in the power of a bunch of people getting together in a room and exploring those universal gestures that every human understands and those unspoken and unspeakable things for which language is inadequate.
Our mission was formed: to Search for truth in those parts of the human experience that are not expressed aloud.
To this very day, we look back in wonder.
We never thought we'd still be here, we never expected that one little show would turn into 30 world premieres, 8 original adaptations, 13 devised works, 2 homages, and one beloved variety show that ran for a decade.
Eventually, the Silent Theatre style would hone in and become a specific form of physical performance that communicated with clarity and directness (after all, how can there be any subtext, if there is no text?!?)
After being nomadic for five years, we settled into our hub Hq, nestled on the corner of Milwaukee, Armitage, and Western in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago, overlooking the Blue Line El.
We treated the space like a Key Club access-only venue, meaning you had to be invited to enter. It was a modern-day Speak Easy that saw visual and performing art, live music, film screenings, unique culinary events, and many, many, many parties.
It was funky and anachronistic and rebellious and warm and it became a staple in the DIY scene in Chicago. As one of our long-time guests put it in writing and framed it:
One day I will close my eyes and remember this magical place.
Dennis Episcopo
We even built our own Tube TV wall.
After 5 years, the building we were in sold, and we found ourselves nomads once again. We have invented and reinvented ourselves many times over. If there’s a trait that Silent Theatre proudly wears on its sleeve, it is adaptability. We are not afraid to be unorthodox in our style, approach, or opinions—even if they are not so popular. We love playing around with new ways to tell stories and employing new technologies with which those stories are told.
When we all first set out on a coast-to-coast tour, there were thirteen souls on that bus. There are now 26 of us STC Folk scattered around the world, in various phases of our lives, careers, and activity status in the ensemble. But what has bound us together, this art and this adventure, will forever be a part of who we are.
Celebrate Silent Theatre’s 20th anniversary by subscribing or making a one-time tax-deductible donation to help kick-start our live presentations post-hiatus. #cureforthecommonbore
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Congratulations! What an impressive feat, Tonika!
Seriously, love reading about this wonderful adventure.
Don't know much, but I do know the world needs more art. Thanks for sharing this.
What an amazing saga! O the places you'll go! O the things I don't know about you!