Four years ago, off-Loop theater pioneer Stuart Oken pitched his dream idea to Northwestern University. He envisioned an incubator for new musicals: professional writers and composers, working with students, would develop shows that would be produced on campus but could eventually make their way to real-world venues, both nonprofit and commercial. The incubator would fill a gap in an industry where producers were finding it increasingly expensive to workshop new shows, and the students would get invaluable practical experience. Northwestern embraced the idea, and Oken moved back to Chicago from Los Angeles to spearhead it.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Now, after what he calls a very successful beginning, Oken says his role at AMTP has been sharply reduced, against his wishes.
Though at press time he was still listed on the project’s Web site as artistic director, he no longer functions in that capacity and hasn’t since his contract lapsed in August. He’s still working on a show called Dangerous Beauty that AMTP will open in June, but his only connection to the overall project now is as an outside consultant. “Whether I continue at all after this summer is up for grabs,” he says.
Oken had promised himself that he wouldn’t get Elephant Eye mixed up with AMTP projects “because eventually it’ll be muddy and it’ll get you in trouble.” But when no one else stepped up, he proposed that Elephant Eye back the show. According to him, Northwestern’s response was very positive, and he doesn’t believe the arrangement was a factor in their decision to oust him as artistic director.
In May Elephant Eye, in collaboration with the New York nonprofit Playwrights Horizons, will begin previews for Saved, a musical based on the 2004 film comedy, to be directed by Gary Griffin. It also has two new musicals on track for Broadway production: The Addams Family, by composer Andrew Lippa and Jersey Boys authors Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman, and Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, by David Henry Hwang and David Yazbeck.
