I’ve always been dramatic. When I was a little girl, maybe two or three, I remember making up stories in the closet. My mother was always trying to figure out who in the hell was in there with me. I’d make up all these voices and play all these characters.
Jackie Taylor, 61, is the founder, executive director, and primary playwright for the Black Ensemble Theater. This was literally a landmark year for her and BET: the company moved into its own built-to-order space at 4450 N. Clark. —Tony Adler
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
I grew up in Cabrini, which is right down the street from Wells Street, right down the street from the Gold Coast. I was a very angry kid so I’d do a lot of things that were just horrible. We broke a window and all the other kids ran faster than me and I was the one who got caught. Mr. Huston, who caught me, was the drama instructor at Seward Park, which is the park district that’s still there at Cabrini. He said, “I’m gonna give you a choice. I can either call the police, or you can come up to drama class.” That’s what really saved me. That’s what stopped me from going into one direction and pushed me into another. I never did anything else. I was always a writer. I was always a director. I was always an actor. Always. I just never wanted to do anything else except be in theater.
I made my first film in 1973. Cooley High propelled me into the Hollywood arena. I received what they called, at the time, a cattle call contract. That meant you were under contract with the studio. It was your job to read scripts and to do whatever role they wanted you to do. And Cooley High had a very positive message, which was violence is ignorance and destroys a community. I played the main character’s girlfriend.
I started planning [Black Ensemble’s new] building about 10 years ago. I always knew that the theater company had to be more than just a name, it had to have an asset, it had to have a foundation. Owning your own space, having your own theater solidifies you in a way that nothing else can. So when I started thinking about Black Ensemble as an institution that survives my lifetime, I knew that I had to start thinking in terms of transformation and solidification of the business. I put my life into this and I don’t want it go when my life goes.
