| 14th | Top theaters for dance |
| Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Harris Theater (left) from Randolph Street | |
| Address |
205 E. Randolph
Street
|
| City | |
| Country |  United
States |
| Architect | Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects |
| Capacity | 1525 |
| Opened | November 8, 2003 |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Previous names | Harris Theater Harris & Harris Theater |
| Current use | Music and Dance performance |
| www.harristheaterchicago.org/ | |
Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Harris & Harris Theater or most commonly Harris Theater is a 1525-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, USA. Constructed from 2002–2003, it is the city's premier performance venue for small and medium sized performance groups.[1] The theater was named for its primary benefactors, Mr & Mrs. Irving Harris.[2] Although the theater was founded to serve as the home to several local mid-sized performance organizations, the theater began offering subscription series of traveling performers in its fifth season.[3][4]
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Lying between Lake Michigan to the east and the Loop to the west, Grant Park has been Chicago's front yard since the mid 19th century. Its northwest corner, north of Monroe Street and the Art Institute, east of Michigan Avenue, south of Randolph Street, and east of Columbus Drive, had been Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as Millennium Park.[5] Today, Millennium Park trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction.[6]
The theater is a privately owned institution serving mostly local mid-size nonprofit arts companies and projects, including those sponsoring touring artists such as Old Town School of Folk Music. The building is located on ground leased from the City of Chicago. Construction began on February 1, 2002,[7] and the theater opened for use on November 8, 2003.[8][9] The theater was opened to serve as the home venue for a dozen arts groups that perform a variety of types of dance and music. The founding companies are: Ballet Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Sinfonietta, The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, Old Town School of Folk Music, and Performing Arts Chicago.[8][9] When the Harris Theater opened in 2003, it provided an aspiration for small dance companies such as Luna Negra Dance Theater.[10] This was an aspiration that Luna Negra quickly achieved.[11][12]
The theater, locally known as Harris Theater, is a first newly constructed space in Chicago dedicated for the performing arts since 1929.[13] The theater was built to fill a need identified in a study by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for a flexible, affordable, technically and physically modern downtown performance venue in Chicago for use by itinerant performing arts companies.[13] Many of Chicago’s major philanthropic organizations and resident performing arts companies formed a partnership to bring the project to fruition. The non-profit Harris Theater provides subsidized rental, technical expertise, and marketing support.[14] Today, the Theater underwrites over two-thirds of the daily usage costs for its non-profit user groups while providing marketing, box office, front-of-house, and technical services at no extra charge.[14]
In the theater's fifth season (2008–09), it began to present its own music series of touring groups. In this endeavor, it has entered the domain of the Auditorium Theatre and the Symphony Center's Chicago Symphony Orchestra.[15] Thus, in addition to the numerous resident performing arts programs, it is offering series subscriptions for what is called the "Harris Theater Presents" series. The music series for the fifth anniversary season includes a five-concert classical music series and a three-performance dance series by the San Francisco Ballet and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company.[3] This is the first time that they have offered a subscription series and many of the performers are by internationally acclaimed artists.[4]
It has been one of the theatres involved in the Chicago International Film Festival.[16] Prior to 2008, the Chicago Theatre had hosted the annual opening-night film of the Chicago International Film Festival until the festivities were moved to the Harris Theater.[17] In 2005 the theater hosted the 14th annual Jazz Dance World Congress.[18]
The theater is named for its primary benefactors, Mr. & Mrs. Irving Harris. The Harrises have also been the primary benefactors of the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at The University of Chicago and several other causes for the arts and youth.[2][7] Previously the Harrises donated $7 million in 1993 to fund the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall at Aspen, Colorado's Aspen Music Festival and School.[19] The $15 million gift and a $24 million construction loan to the Music and Dance Theater Chicago were believed to be largest single monetary commitment ever to a performing arts organization in Chicago.[7]
The theater is located mostly underground,[20] with an underground passage to the adjacent underground Millennium Park Garage.[7] Its underground design with a commonly used Millennium Park Garage entrance causes many to miss the spatial grandeur of the lobby only to experience a cramped feeling in the staircases that they must take the time to descend.[21] The entire auditorium is contained in a 100-foot (30.5 m) square cube.[19] There is an above ground street glass-walled edifice and lobby entry at 205 E. Randolph Street.[7] The theater cost $52.7 million.[8] It is located beneath and behind the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and this has the benefit that the park's indoor and outdoor performance venues are able to share a loading dock, rehearsal rooms and other backstage facilities.[21] Designed by Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects,[8] it won the American Architecture Award for 2002. The modern lobby spans several metallic and neon floors in what is described as an explosive manner.[21][22] The theater's sightlines and acoustics provide a modern audience experience in an industrial stainless-steel bolstered environment.[21][22] The theater also has a rooftop terrace that is available for private events.[23] Designer Thomas Beeby had previously designed the Harold Washington Library Center and the Art Institute of Chicago Building's Rice Wing.[19]
The following are the theater specifications: 1525 capacity, proscenium (and stage)[19] width — 45 feet (13.7 m), proscenium height — 30 feet (9.1 m), stage depth — 45 feet (13.7 m), offstage right — 26 feet (7.9 m), offstage left — 27 feet 10 inches (8.5 m) and staging area — 27 feet 4 inches (8.3 m) x 83 feet 8 inches (25.5 m).[24] The theater's seats are arranged with approximately 600 main floor seats, 500 raised orchestra level seats and 400 balcony seats. In addition, the modern orchestra pit, which can be closed,[25] accommodates 45 musicians.[19] The theater has 75 feet (22.9 m) of fly space.[19] The theater has 75-foot (22.9 m) steel-reflector towers flanking the proscenium to help focus sound.[25] The theater has maplewood seats, carpeting and walls with a muted color scheme — blacks, charcoals and grays.[25] The modest palette is appropriate for this modest structure that attempts to complement the exuberant neighboring pavilion.[21] The theatre won the 2005 American Institute of Architects Chicago Institutional Design Excellence Award.[26]
Coordinates: 41°53′2.83″N 87°37′18.86″W / 41.8841194°N 87.6219056°W
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Illinois Center | Illinois Center | Illinois Center | |
| Exelon Pavilion |  |
Exelon Pavilion | ||
 Harris
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| Chase Promenade | Jay Pritzker Pavilion | BP Pedestrian Bridge |
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