There's nothing unusual about a theatre company operating out of a church basement. The genealogy of western theatre is storied with church basements, and on a performative, perhaps even metadramatic level, the union of church and theatre routinely appears in such phenomena as storytelling, ritual, liturgy, and pageantry. Yet despite the seemingly obvious, the relationship between my theatre company, Silk Road Theatre Project, and our hosts at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, where we have been theatre-in-residence since 2004, appears to have penned a whole new storyline in this age old symbiosis.

In the heat of immigration reform and the ongoing debate on racial inclusivity, I believe that the preservation of ethnic cultural heritage and ethnic art education are becoming more relevant and important every day. My own interest in ethnic arts practices, multiculturalism and cross-culture experience began with my musical training as a pipa[*] player. Ethnic and folk arts, especially in performance, fascinate me. After graduating with a master’s degree in art education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, my interest in ethnic arts practices continued to grow.

Silk Road Theatre Project (SRTP) has rolled out an innovative audience engagement strategy that reaches beyond producing plays to provide several opportunities for patrons to connect with the company. The basis of the strategy is that the more information an individual has about the process of producing theatre—why a play was chosen, what influenced the playwright, etc.—the more likely they are to support it. It seems to be working. SRTP saw a 200 percent increase in individual donations last year.

As Barack Obama prepares to take office as president of the United States on January 20, his family is saying goodbye to their neighbourhood: Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago.

Chicago theatres are hanging in there with regards to year-end fundraising. Those that succeeded this past December did so because they have been focused all year on efforts to connect with their patrons and not just going for the quick hit at the end of the year.

Best-selling author Iris Chang continues to inspire other writers even after, or maybe because of, her suicide four years ago. Last year saw the release of a book on Chang, written by a friend who had been a classmate of hers at the University of Illinois, and a feature-length documentary by a pair of Toronto-based filmmakers.

The Middle East is the nexus of American foreign policy, but it is still relatively rare to find playwrights with roots in that region on stages in the United States. Three prominent dramatists of Middle Eastern descent gathered on stage for a panel discussion at the Museum of Contemporary Art on April 21.

There are few greater pleasures in the theater than watching an actor in a role that he or she seems to have been destined to play.

If you really like the work of a particular Chicago theater company, you've probably bought a subscription ticket. Good for you. You save some bucks and get to be a part of that theater’s family of supporters. But if you prefer to spread your theater-going around, you probably rely on single tickets. They’re more expensive—but you don’t get locked into the ups and downs of one group.

The Joyce Foundation Work in Progress

A leisurely stroll through downtown Chicago on any given afternoon will likely reveal a sampling of ethnic and racial diversity that spans the globe. The richness of cultures is expressed in everything from Chicago's neighborhood restaurants to its world-class entertainment venues. But for reasons not entirely understood, Chicago's theater industry does not fully represent the diversity that is so effortlessly reflected in the rest of the city. "Theater people tend to be open-minded, sensitive, free-thinking individuals, so for us to be so far behind in this area is baffling," says Jamil Khoury, artistic director of the Silk Road Theatre Project. "We have a responsibility to lead the way to change."

One of the best things about the Chicago theater community is its diversity. Soon you will be able to sample four of Chicago's finest examples of that quality for less than $100.

Asian communities in the United States are among our nation's fastest growing minority populations, so it isn't surprising that the American theater industry has begun to pay attention on two fronts. First, little by little, we are seeing mainstream theater companies produce Asian-themed works. In Chicago, over the last two years, the Goodman, Lookingglass, Prop, Steppenwolf, and Victory Gardens theaters have mounted productions representing the stories and cultures of ancient Persia, India, Japan, and the Philippines. The second front, which drives the first, is the increase in the number of playwrights, actors, directors, designers, composers, and producers who self-identify as Asian-American. You will find them within the mainstream and also organizing and running Asian specific theater companies, such as Rasaka Theatre Company, Silk Road Theatre Project, and Stir Friday Night, among several others here in Chicago.

Desi Drama: the First National South Asian American Theatre Conference was held in Chicago July 19-22, organized by the Silk Road Theatre Project with principal funding from the Ford Foundation and the American Institute for Pakistan Studies. The invitation-only meeting brought together 30 South Asian American playwrights, performers, directors and administrators chiefly from New York , Washington , D.C., Chicago , Minneapolis , San Francisco and greater Los Angeles .

Four award-winning Off-Loop theatre companies are exploring development of a cross-company and cross-cultural subscription series to strengthen diversity both on stage and among audiences. The series would be dubbed Looks Like Chicago, a phrase and logo the organizers already have trademarked. Initiated by the Silk Road Theatre Project, Looks Like Chicago encompasses Silk Road, Congo Square Theatre Company, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and Teatro Vista – Theatre with a View. The initial four-troupe partnership would be for two years with an option to renew.

Windy City Media Group
By Jonathan Abarbanel
March 28, 2007

Windy City Times recently talked with Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, whose notable works include The Dance and the Railroad, the multiple-prize winning M. Butterfly and the Tony Award-nominated Golden Child, currently on stage at the Silk Road Theatre Project in its Chicago premiere (through April 22). Hwang also has written the books (scripts) for several Broadway musicals, among them Elton John's Aida, Tarzan and a new version of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song.

The multi-ethnic Silk Road Theater Project has attracted support on many fronts, and the latest is a mural by Chicago ’s world-renowned Zhou Brothers. The Zhou Brothers unveiled their $250,000 gift mural February 8 to the theater company housed in the basement of the Chicago Temple/First United Methodist Church downtown. “We know the Zhou Brothers resonated with our mission and we are very grateful,” said the SRTP founders, Jamil Khoury and Malik Gillani . “We were totally surprised.” The six-by-20-foot painting, entitled The Silk Road, synthesizes texture, color, Eastern and Western contemporary aesthetics, and hangs along an interior wall inside the theater hall.