Chopin Theatre marks 35 years
This adventure actually began in 1986, when the Dyrkacz family bought and rehabbed a few buildings on the intersection of Milwaukee and Division that were already in demolition court.
In their living room, they hosted literary and social events related to martial law in Poland (Zygmunt later became a trustee for Poland’s first democratic election). In the storefront below was the Lorenzo Rodriguez Gallery, and in the basement Theater Oobleck held rehearsals.
Lorenzo Rodriguez Gallery @ 1178 N. Milwaukee (photo Z. Dyrkacz)
A few years later, in 1990, with profits from the Milwaukee buildings, the family bought the abandoned Chopin Theatre building (built in 1918) around the corner. With no working bathrooms and electricity coming from cables running across the alley, Chopin held its first shows as part of Around the Coyote Festival. By 1993, after steady rehab, the theater was hosting 10 shows daily across both spaces during the week-long festival, which brought 100,000 visitors to Wicker Park to see more than 700 artists. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas with John Cusack and Jeremy Piven put Chopin Theatre on the map. That period also brought personal change as one marriage ended and another began in 2001.
Chopin Theatre @ 1543 W. Division (photo Z. Dyrkacz)
Twenty-four years ago, Zygmunt was joined by Lela Headd in marriage, with Lela joining Chopin as Manager and Zygmunt continuing as Artistic Director. Today Chopin Theatre has presented more than 2,200 events in theater, literature, film, classical, and jazz while continuing to improve the spaces. This includes over 200 of its own productions and as well as special projects like I-Fest solo performances, TryArts backers auditions, the Out at Sea / Sławomir Mrożek tour, the WorldView arts festival, the Art & Environment lecture series, and this year’s Theatre of the Absurd Festival.
Over 540 different presentations from Chicago’s renowned theaters have taken place at Chopin Theatre, including Backstage, Collaboraction, Eclipse, Greasy Joan, Hell in a Handbag, House Theatre, the Hypocrites, Kokandy, Lookingglass, Teatro Vista, Theater Oobleck, Trap Door, TuTa, WNEP, and others. Literary events often draw about 120 people and have featured Pulitzer Prize winners (Brooks, Levine, Simic) and MacArthur Fellows (Dybek, Alfaro) through collaborations with Guild Complex, Young Chicago Authors, journals, and universities across the Midwest.
More than one million people have come through our doors.
We stay because we believe it is important to provide a space for the art of ideas and for work that might unsettle, provoke, or discomfort because it reminds us what it means to be human.
A few years ago, we became a 501(c)(3) to help Chopin outlive us (now 74 and 55), with the goal of raising enough funds for a part-time office person and a full-time technical director. We hope foundations will see this as a mission worth supporting.
In the coming year, we will host more of Chicago’s adventurous companies, partner to bring an international artist or two, install an Ed Paschke mural, produce the second Theatre of the Absurd Festival, and update www.ChopinTheatre.com so the artists who have worked here are not forgotten.
Chopin Theatre is kept going by volunteers like The Saints, budget-friendly contractors, and a handful of generous supporters. Zygmunt and Lela are grateful to their families—especially their two college-age sons (22 and 20)—and their small but mighty Board: Prof. Alton Miller (Ret., former Chief of Staff to Mayor Washington), Maciek Falendysz, CPA, and Marla Kanemitsu, Esq.
Chopin Theatre Today (photo Justin Teichen)