Actor/producer made Bard accessible to Northwest suburbs
An Elk Grove Village resident who worked to make Shakespeare accessible to Northwest suburban residents, has passed away.
James Hirsch founded the Elk Grove Center for the Performing Arts with his partner, Barbara Singelmann, in 1994. Right from the start, their intent was to stage Shakespeare's lighter works, his comedies, in order to appeal to a wider audience.
The first show they mounted was "Twelfth Night," which was staged, as it was in the 17th century, outdoors.
"He wanted it staged the way Shakespeare had intended it," Singelmann says. "He wanted people to understand it and enjoy it, and have it be accessible to the regular guy off the street."
Mr. Hirsch passed away on Tuesday. The 37-year resident of Elk Grove Village, was 66.
"He didn't discover the theater until he was in his mid-40s, in a park district program," Singelmann adds. "But once he tasted it, it became his passion."
Singelmann met Mr. Hirsch while both acted in productions mounted by the former Masque & Staff theater group, which entertained Elk Grove audiences for 30 years before it closed.
The couple picked up where Masque & Staff left off, starting the Elk Grove Center for the Performing Arts with an expanded repertoire, to stage Shakespeare as well as children's productions and classic romantic comedies.
They declined partnering with governmental entities, fearing they would have to compromise their artistic license, and plunged ahead as an independent organization searching for a permanent location.
Their plays held during what they called the "Shakespeare Summers' End Festival" began in an open parking lot, and later moved to the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit.
Their children's productions took place in the Garden Terrace at the Elk Grove Pavilion, while their winter productions, which ranged from "On Golden Pond" to "The Lion in Winter" - Mr. Hirsch's favorite - took place at the former Best Western Midway Hotel in Elk Grove Village.
"What we want to be, and what we are, is an educational and cultural organization that entertains," Hirsch said in a 2000 Daily Herald interview, during rehearsals for Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors."
The performance company's last play, in 2006, was "Romeo and Juliet," before closing the curtains for good.
Besides Singelmann, Mr. Hirsch is survived by his children Matthew (Cathy), Julie and Douglas (Dahlia) Hirsch, as well as five grandchildren.
Visitation takes place from 3-9 p.m. Friday, with a 7 p.m. funeral service, at Grove Memorial Chapel, 1199 S. Arlington Heights Road in Elk Grove Village.