Three’s a Crowd
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Then last month, with the opening of Rent at the Shubert, New York’s Playbill made its first foray into Chicago as the program supplier for all Shubert productions. The granddaddy of the theater program business, Playbill has been Broadway’s primary program for more than a century, and it services a number of off-Broadway theaters as well. The company also publishes programs for key theaters in Boston, Philadelphia, south Florida, and Washington, D.C., and it’s moved onto the Internet with a highly informative Web site. Recently Playbill has established a foothold in Los Angeles, picking up contracts at the Wilshire, the Pantages, and the Henry Fonda.
The prestigious Shubert account may not be Playbill’s last coup in Chicago. “We are in a definite expansion mode,” says Clifford Tinder, publisher of Playbill’s classic arts division. Tinder was hired away from Stagebill’s New York headquarters last summer, a smart move by Playbill. “Clifford was responsible for all the contracts that Stagebill signed with theaters,” says a source at Stagebill, “so he knows what is in all of them.”
Following a lengthy search, the Chicago Dance Coalition has named Gerard Seguin its new executive director. Seguin comes here from Toronto, where he was the director of development for the Danny Grossman Dance Company, a 20-year-old modern dance troupe considered one of Canada’s finest. Seguin, 32, previously worked in the marketing department at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and held other managerial positions with orchestra and opera organizations around Toronto. He made his first visit to Chicago about a year ago and has been back several times. As director of the Chicago Dance Coalition, his first priority will be “to meet the coalition membership and talk with them in a frank and open manner about what their needs are.” Seguin has some fund-raising experience and hopes to expand the coalition’s budget. “I want to look at how we can increase earned and unearned income, because the budget as it stands now has little left in it for new programs.” If all immigration formalities go smoothly, Seguin will be on the job by February 1.
