Goodman Theatre announces $15 million expansion
Chicago's Goodman Theatre on Tuesday announced that it will establish the Alice B. Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement, making it the first Chicago-area theater with a dedicated facility of its kind.
The theater has raised more than $11 million of the $15 million needed to transform 7,800 square feet of adjacent space above Petterino's restaurant into classrooms, rehearsal space and an interactive laboratory.
"We've gone from two education programs to nine," said Willa Taylor, Goodman director of education and engagement. "It was clear we needed additional space."
What most excites Taylor is the hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) laboratory.
"We're taking one of the spaces in the new addition and we're making a STEM lab that will allow kids, in an interactive, hands-on way, to understand the geometry, mathematics and physics of how we do technical theater," Taylor said.
Students may learn how to build a motor to move scenery or use geometry to determine a lighting angle.
"It's one thing to look at charts and photos, it's another to get up on a ladder, focus a light and understand the angle you're making," she said.
Scheduled to open in 2016, the new facility will allow Goodman to triple the number of educators served in its teacher training program and double the number of young people participating in youth activities.
Named for the late Rapoport, a Goodman trustee and past chairwoman of its education committee, the center will allow for the expansion of PlayBuild, a summer theater workshop for students ages 14 to 18; GeNarrations, a performance workshop for adults 55 and older; The Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program which pairs teenage girls from Chicago and the suburbs who have an interest in arts journalism with mentors from the Association of Women Journalists; and Context, a series that brings artists, community leaders and theatergoers together to discuss issues related to Goodman productions among other programs.
"The Center actualizes our long term commitment to being an institution that is dedicated to artistic achievement and community engagement in equal measure," said artistic director Robert Falls in a prepared statement. "It's time to grow."