Victory Gardens Theater Announces Participants in Inaugural Season of the Resident Theater Program

Victory Gardens Theater announces its Resident Theater Program, to begin in the upcoming 2013-2014 Season. The Program's first participants will include Bailiwick Chicago, Rasaka Theatre Company, Sideshow Theater Company, and Teatro Vista. Each Resident Theater will individually announce its 2013-14 season soon.

For the last 38 years, Victory Gardens has been an artistic home for Chicago's diverse communities. By cultivating new voices (Ignition Festival, Playwright's Ensemble) and developing public programming to reach new audiences (Dig Deeper, Access Project, Fresh Squeezed), the Theater aspires to foster dialogues with the city's population through the work onstage.

Through the Resident Theater Program, Victory Gardens aims to be an incubator for existing storefront theatres in Chicago and further each company's growth and stability. Victory Gardens is seeking opportunities to collaborate with the resident companies on key projects while maintaining their respective missions and aesthetic identities. During their multi-year residency, Victory Gardens will give each company a physical home to nurture its audience base, develop its respective board, and fully realize the next phases of its own strategic plan.

Artistic Director Chay Yew states, "This is a natural extension of our theater's founding mission. When we started talking to the leaders of these amazing companies, the electricity was palpable. These Resident Theaters have incredible offerings in store for the public." He continued, "I want Victory Gardens to help existing storefront theatres grow and develop institutional stability. Our ultimate objective is to position Victory Gardens, with its location in the heart of Lincoln Park at the crossroads of a major transportation hub, as a premier cultural performing arts center. By gathering these diverse theaters under one roof, Chicago residents can more fully engage with all of the city's communities throughout the year."

Steve Miller, President of the Victory Gardens Board is enthusiastic about this new program, "This inaugural class of Resident Theaters brings unique aesthetics, and audiences to Victory Gardens, amplifying the mission of the theater and positioning it as a new cultural performing arts center. For our partners, their companies will be given greater exposure to new audiences. All of us benefit."