College of DuPage's MAC still thriving after 30 years

In a new YouTube video, the inset over an exterior image of the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn features comedian Lewis Black addressing the College of DuPage.

"Happy anniversary to everyone at the MAC and at the College of DuPage. I really mean that. And I'm serious. I'm not kidding. Seriously, no, I mean it," Black says without smiling just before Diana Martinez, the center's executive director, begins her narration of the 17-minute tribute.

Black, known for his comedic rants, is one of many luminaries to grace the performance spaces at the college's arts venue, which opened its doors in October 1986.

Since then, the facility has undergone a $35 million renovation.

In addition to featuring touring companies of national acts, the center offers COD students opportunities to pursue their arts education.

The video debuted at a mid-November 30th anniversary celebration party and is available on YouTube. It also will be broadcast on the college's public access TV station, WDCB, Martinez said.

Martinez took the center's helm in September 2013 after serving as president of The Second City in Chicago. Before that, she served as director at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora and headed marketing at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles.

She said she was working as a freelance consultant, helping to plan the 125th anniversary celebration for the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, when she got a call from Stephen Cummings, then-director of the MAC, who was moving on from his post.

"I was supposed to help them find a director," she said.

A Glen Ellyn native, Martinez said she felt at home at the MAC, which is located on Fawell Boulevard. She realized her familiarity with the DuPage County community and her experience with managing multifaceted venues had prepared her well.

So she applied for the role. Her tenure began shortly after a 14-month renovation was completed with the help of a $25 million endowment.

While the renovation didn't expand the center's size, it did include upgrades in the sound, heating, cooling, seating and aesthetics of the venue, including a new art gallery and outdoor stage.

Today, Martinez supervises about 12 full-time managers, about a dozen staff members and some 80 volunteers who handle box office, marketing, donations, and education and outreach efforts.

With four separate theater spaces, the center is rarely dark. Almost every night of the week, students and/or professional performances are under way, she said.

"We have 60 student shows a year," she said. "We do 40 touring shows a year, and that includes children's shows."

The New Philharmonic Orchestra, the MAC's resident symphony orchestra led by conductor Kirk Muspratt, presents 12 concerts each year.

The Buffalo Theatre Ensemble recently returned from a three-year hiatus and will present its newest show, "Good People," in February, Martinez said.

The college also rents venues to performing arts companies.

"All in all, it's about 200 show per year that we produce," she said.

Events are staged both indoors and outdoors at the center.

Indoors, the Belushi Performance Hall seats 800. Martinez said both John and Jim Belushi attended COD.

"When John died, Jim created a scholarship in his name. You're never going to have a more well-known benefactor who was a student here," she said.

When the hall was named about two years ago, Jim Belushi performed a show at the college.

"He was so touched and surprised," she said.

The Playhouse Theatre seats 200 around a thrust stage, and the Studio Theatre, a black-box style space, seats 80.

There's also the Lakeside Pavilion, an outdoor venue where Martinez said about 2,000 people gather every summer weekend to enjoy theater, music and film screenings.

When the center was young, there was no lakeside pavilion, but there was a courtyard.

"When I was director, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the MAC. There were seven student performances a year, there were five resident professional companies at that point, there was a robust touring program," Janie Oldfield, MAC director from 2000 to 2006, says in the anniversary video. "What a thrill it was to see this place start to blossom. It started to have its own personality. It was a huge privilege to have helped to develop something and really take the programming to where it was making a difference in the community."

The center's Cleve Carney Gallery replaced the modest art gallery initially installed in the center's lobby with the help of a donation of an art collection valued at $1 million from Carney's estate, Martinez said.

The MAC is named for Harold McAninch, COD's president when the center opened.

"I felt that we needed something in DuPage County. We really had no center for the arts," McAninch tells Martinez in the video. "We wanted people here to see what the College of DuPage was about."

Martinez said the center offers students facilities where they can learn and practice music, jewelry-making, painting, dance, theater, graphic arts, broadcasting and other arts activities.

It also brings students together with accomplished artists, she said.

"We did a show this year with Stephen Schwartz," she said.

Among the composer's most well-known compositions are scores he wrote for "Pippin," "Godspell" and "Wicked."

"The next day he did a workshop with the students," Martinez said. "That opportunity for a student is truly priceless."

Martinez said the MAC has established a fund to enable children from economically disadvantaged situations to experience theater.

Currently the MAC-Tastic Tickets program sends 600 kids each year to a MAC show.

In many cases, she said, it is their first exposure to theater arts.

"They'd never seen anything like this or been to a theater," she said.

Next, Martinez said she envisions bringing in more speakers. A recent appearance by travel expert Rick Steves was well received, she said.

"I think we can do more with our lecture series and book signings," she said.