Jackie’s Back!

When the new Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center opened its doors in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood on November 18, it was a triumph for Chicago’s two Jackies. The Jackie Wilson Story, one of the company’s most successful bio-musicals in a long string of original shows focusing on black musicians and performers, has returned to kick off the next chapter in Black Ensemble’s history. And the theater’s creator, founder, and executive director, Jackie Taylor, celebrates another milestone with the company she built from scratch 35 years ago.

The $19-million facility at 4450 N. Clark Street, designed by theater architect John Morris, is a huge step up from the company’s previous cramped quarters at the 150-seat Leo A. Lerner Theater in the Uptown Center-Hull House, which they’ve occupied since 1987. But while the amenities have been greatly improved, the welcoming atmosphere will remain the same.

The 299-seat thrust main stage (a 150-seat flexible black-box upstairs studio will be finished at a later date) retains the intimacy of the old theater, where performers frequently interacted with audience members. It’s not unusual to see patrons at Black Ensemble performances dancing at the end of the show.

Since its inception, Black Ensemble has maintained a bold mission statement: “to eradicate racism and its damaging effects upon our society through the utilization of theater arts.” Taylor, 60, who grew up in Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects, says that she wants “theater to change the palette of the community — the community that is the neighborhood and the community at large and the national community.”

Her path toward that goal has resulted in what she describes as “a beautiful theater where people can come to experience and to congregate and talk and feel excited and feel good.” And while African-American audiences predominate, most Black Ensemble shows do exhibit a greater demographic mix than many other theaters in Chicago — appropriate for a company located in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the country.

The emphasis on community includes a glass-walled lobby in the new space (a public area that was sorely lacking in the Hull House theater) that brings in light and creates a welcoming atmosphere for passers-by. The interior of the space features designs by singer Dionne Warwick, who met Taylor years ago when the latter asked for permission to do a musical based on Warwick’s life.

“Getting to know her, we became buddies,” says Taylor. “I learned that she was an interior designer and I saw some of the things she had done and I loved what I saw.” The one thing Taylor insisted upon? Red seats in the auditorium. “It’s vibrant and when you walk in, they speak to you.”

Adds Morris: “One thing that was high on everybody’s list was acoustical excellence.” He also notes that, though the new lobby is huge compared to the old theater, “there are nooks for conversation.” Backstage and upstairs, the performer and staff facilities are also greatly improved over the Hull House space, where actors sometimes had to change in the public restrooms.

Black Ensemble also finally has fly space and traps in the stage floor, as well as an orchestra pit. However, Taylor, who has always staged her shows with the band onstage, says there won’t be a band in the pit. “Not while I’m alive,” she says.

Taylor is, however, looking to expand the kind of work presented at Black Ensemble from the trademark line-up of musicals about rock, soul, and Motown performers that have been so successful. When completed, the upstairs studio will present new work geared for younger audiences, including a planned bio-musical about Tupac Shakur. There will be room in the season for straight plays as well, though Taylor says that those will still feature scores with live musicians.

From the rooftop terrace overlooking Clark Street, Taylor pointed out two other buildings across the road, identifying one as the future home of “Jackie’s Café,” a full-service restaurant she envisions, and the other as a site for a new conservatory actor training program run through the theater. The fact that the current occupants of the latter building don’t seem on board with her yet isn’t a deterrent. “I don’t know what ‘no’ means,” says Taylor. “I haven’t the slightest idea of what that word is all about.”

But she does recognize that Black Ensemble Theatre has become bigger than one person’s vision. “Part of [building the new theater] was to begin the process of institutionalizing the Black Ensemble Theater so it’s not dependent upon Jackie Taylor,” she says. “It’s going to take many different lifetimes to achieve the mission, but if you don’t plant the seed, nothing grows.”