By Ben Joravsky
As befits her style, Brown says of her latest expansion plan that the stakes are high. “This is not just about building a building or staging a play,” she says. “This is about economic development. This is about developing South Shore and Grand Crossing and other south-side communities. We have set a goal and we are determined. By the year 2001 we will have expanded. We will get it done.”
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She joined Drama, Inc., a south-side theater group founded by the late Lillian Thompkins (former wardrobe mistress for the Shubert Theatre), whom Brown credits as her mentor. “Lillian left a legacy,” she says. “She insisted we study theater so that we knew everything about the business. We sold tickets, built stages, acted, and directed. It was very trying. We all had day jobs.”
In 1979 ETA bought an abandoned storm door factory on South Chicago. During the next few years Brown raised thousands of dollars from foundations and negotiated a no-interest loan from the city. By 1987 ETA had converted the old factory into a theater.
By 1997 ETA had outgrown its space. “We don’t have enough room here to do all the things we want,” says Brown. “We need a transfer house for shows with open runs. Our commitment is still to helping playwrights develop new work, but sometimes we have a popular show that people want to see. We don’t want to have to close it, although we have our series schedule to stick to. We want to be able to let the show have its full run so everyone can see it, maximizing as much as we can.
The project could cost as much as $10 million. Davis believes it can succeed. “We’re using entertainment as economic development,” he says. “That’s what this neighborhood needs more of. That’s what a lot of inner-city neighborhoods are lacking. We see this as a magnet that will attract people not only to support the theater but the restaurant. There’s nothing like it that I know of anywhere else on the south side. But I’m confident. When we bought the South Shore Bank in August of 1973, that was a time when everyone was predicting this neighborhood was going to be demolished and abandoned. It’s quite different today. There’s still a lot to be done here, especially with the commercial strips. But if you look at the housing, it’s taking off, and it’s nothing short of a miracle. Our expansion can continue that trend.”
