State Street

State Street

City Lit Theater
1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue Chicago

State Street is set in a not-very-historically-accurate version of Chicago in the days just before the Great Fire of 1871, and is inspired by the colorful and unfortunate history of Crosby’s Opera House. Uranus H. Crosby built the opera house, Chicago’s first temple of high art, only to see it lose money and close. He sold the building through a lottery at $5.00 a ticket. This made him a million dollars; he then bought the opera house from the lottery winner for a fraction of that amount and was back in business. After an expensive renovation, the opera house was scheduled to re-open on October 9, 1871. Late in the evening of October 8, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city and ended the career of Crosby’s Opera House for good.

Thru - Jun 24, 2012