Bill’s passage benefits Illinois theater
Sears Holdings Corp. and the CME Group weren’t the only entities benefiting from Tuesday’s passage of Senate Bill 397. The bill also includes a tax credit for live theater productions that gives a boost to Broadway in Chicago, but doesn’t benefit suburban theaters.
Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign the legislation which allows certain theaters that produce pre-Broadway or long-run shows with labor and marketing expenses exceeding $100,000 to receive up to $2 million in live-theater tax credits beginning in July.
The League of Chicago Theatres supported the legislation which applies only to for-profit theaters with more than 1,200 seats, criteria that eliminates not-for-profit theaters and suburban for-profit companies including Drury Lane Oak Brook and Lincolnshire’s Marriott Theatre, each of which has 950 seats. Aurora’s not-for-profit, 1,750-seat Paramount Theatre is not eligible for the credit.
The tax credit allows for parity between live theater and the film industry which enjoys similar tax credits, and it promotes jobs in the industry, said Deb Clapp, executive director of the League of Chicago Theatres.
“It does create opportunities for more theatrical productions to either be born in Chicago and move elsewhere or to sit down in Chicago for a longer period of time,” Clapp said.
More productions would further enhance Chicago’s reputation as one of the world’s great theater cities, said Clapp, adding that not giving tax breaks to productions puts Chicago at a disadvantage compared to other cities.
“This is all about economic development,” said Lou Raizin, president of Broadway in Chicago.
He added that 42 percent of BIC’s audience travels to Chicago for the purpose of attending one of the company’s long-run shows. Moreover, long-run and Broadway-bound shows that start out in Chicago have a huge economic impact, said Raizin, who estimates that impact at $480 million and approximately 2,000 jobs.
He said the amendment’s passage doesn’t equal a handout for theater producers.
“We have to produce before there is a tax credit,” said Raizin. “If we don’t produce, there is no inducement.”