Jeff Awards Exhibit

As part of its 40th Anniversary Celebration, the Jeff Awards Committee is presenting an exhibition Celebrating Four Decades of Chicago Theatre, now through November 30, at 72 East Randolph. The exhibit is free and open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-6pm and Sunday from 11am-4pm.

A special reception will be held on Monday, November 10 from 4pm-6pm with guests from the city, theatre community and media invited to celebrate and enjoy the display. The public is welcome.

The Exhibit includes a timeline of all recipients of the Jeff Award for Outstanding Production (both Equity and Non-Equity), videos, theatre banners, and posters. Loaned items to the Exhibit include great photos from the Second City, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Black Ensemble Theater, Lookingglass Theatre and many more. Visitors can examine Redmoon's 15-foot boat and lifesize "puppet" Salao from their hit show "Salao" and a toy theatre from their production of "The Seagull"; costume designer Nancy Missimi's sketches of and actual Anna's costume from Marriott Theatre's "The King and I"; a mask from Victory Garden's "Snow Queen"; the monkey from Chicago Shakespeare Theater's "Sunday in the Park with George"; a scenic model from TimeLine Theatre, and many other designs and artifacts. The Exhibit is interactive and entertaining.

According to Exhibit Curator Natalie van Straaten, "The theatre community has been very enthusiastic and responsive to the Jeff Awards salute to Four Decades of Chicago Theatre. We thank all the participating theatres for joining us as we share this small sample of the excellence, diversity and creativity of our city's great theatre scene."

The Jeff Awards has been honoring outstanding theatre artists annually since it was established in 1968. With up to 50 members representing a wide variety of backgrounds in theatre, the Jeff Awards is committed to celebrating the vitality of Chicago area theatre by recognizing excellence through its recommendations, awards and honors. The Jeff Awards fosters the artistic growth of area theatres and theatre artists and promotes educational opportunities, audience appreciation and civic pride in the achievements of the theatre community. The Jeff Awards evaluates over 250 theatrical productions and holds two awards ceremonies annually. Originally chartered to recognize only Equity productions, the Jeff Awards established the Non-Equity Wing in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union Chicago theatre. The next Non-Equity awards ceremony will be held on June 8, 2009 at Park West.

For more information on the Exhibit, or about the Jeff Awards, please visit www.jeffawards.org.