Critical Voice
When Chicago came of age as a theatrical center in the 1960s, Richard Christiansen ’53 was there to witness it.
In more than 40 years of writing theater criticism, Richard Christiansen ’53 witnessed some remarkable moments on the Chicago stage: the debut of playwright David Mamet’s first full-length play, William Petersen’s performance in the drama In the Belly of the Beast, the advent of Steppenwolf Theater, and the formative years of actors John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen, and William H. Macy.
But perhaps the most memorable evening in his long career was Christiansen’s first night on the job in 1963. Then a young arts reporter for the Chicago Daily News, he was given the go-ahead by the paper’s regular theater critic to cover a performance staged at a converted bowling alley in a north side American Legion post.
It was the Chicago premier of the off-Broadway drama Who’ll Save the Plowboy? produced by Hull House Theater. The production was wonderful, according to Christiansen—full of “energy, passion, and commitment”—but even more startling to him were the possibilities it represented.
“It was an arid period in Chicago theater,” he says. “What productions existed were touring shows—tattered versions of Broadway musicals. The Hull House
premier was so much more alive. These were just actors from Chicago, performing in this converted bowling alley in the middle of nowhere, but they were showing that it was possible for homegrown theater to shine.”
Over the next four decades, Chicago would emerge as one of the most exciting stage venues in the country. Along with Hull House and Steppenwolf (home to Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, and John Mahoney), the comedy venue Second City would come into its own as a Chicago theater institution, introducing the public to Bill Murray and John Belushi. Resident companies like Organic Theater Company (where Dennis Franz got his start) and Victory Gardens Theater (breeding ground of CSI’s William Petersen) would bring exciting new productions to the stage. The Goodman Theater would be revived and invigorated, and the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory Theater would be born.
Christiansen not only saw the growth and increasing excellence of local theater, he was an intimate contributor to it. “When he started out, [Chicago] critics confined their reviews to the major productions downtown,” says Bernard Sahlins, a Second City founder. “Richard went out to the suburbs and brought the audiences with him.”
“Richard broke boundaries by reviewing not just the star-driven vehicles in Chicago,” says Robert Falls, part of the Chicago theater scene for 30 years and now artistic director of the Goodman Theater. “He’s an emotional and passionate critic, but always caring, honest, and intelligent. I think of him as the last of a breed: a gentleman critic.”
Born in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, Christiansen was the only child of parents “who wanted me to be a cultured kid,” he says. He took piano and tap dancing lessons and developed an early interest in theater, which he brought with him to Carleton in 1949. The College had no theater department at the time, but Christiansen was a mainstay with the theatrical troupe the Carleton Players. “He and Kay (Middleton) Chapin ’53 were the two people most closely identified with the theater department,” says classmate Hal Higdon ’53. “If they weren’t in the cast, they’d probably hand you a program.”
Chapin subsequently was script supervisor on a number of Woody Allen movies. Christiansen wound up back in Chicago, where he took a job at the City News Bureau, a local press agency where young reporters learned the business by covering the police and court beats. There Christiansen made a lifelong friend of fellow reporter and longtime Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko.
He took a job with the Chicago Daily News in 1963, staying with that paper until it closed in 1978. Less than a week later he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune, where he was theater critic until he retired in 2002. He still contributes regularly to the Tribune as well as writing about the Chicago theater scene for the London Guardian.
His biggest undertaking since retirement was writing A Theater of Our Own: A History and Memoir of 1001 Nights in Chicago, which Northwestern University Press published in 2004. The book details the history of Chicago theater from its first 1837 production to its current success.
Of his involvement in that success, Christiansen says, “I always thought it was one of my roles [as a critic] to let the world know these theaters were out there and offering value to the city, to shine a light in those corners that people weren’t otherwise seeing.”
Another book is in the works, but it’s too early to talk about it, says Christiansen. A good hunch is that it will further illuminate the Chicago stage.