Chopin Theatre turns 100!

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Chopin turns 100: Historic theater has ushered in hipsters but kept its Polish roots – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune 10-26/18 – “Now a hipster highway, Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago was known in the first decades of the 20th century as Dinner Pail Avenue – it was so named for the legions of workers carrying their food as they trekked downtown along its thriving diagonal, filled with theaters of all sizes and types.

But those were just blips in its history. Unlike such other Milwaukee Avenue establishments as the Enterprise (now a taqueria), the Jefferson Theatre (all that’s left is a name in brick) and The Home 5 Cent Theater (now a cool shoe store), the Chopin has survived as a live theater.

Monday night, its owners are throwing the neighborhood a public party to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The current owners of the Chopin, Zygmunt Dyrkacz and Lela Headd Dyrkacz, say they prefer to think of their theater as a kind of gateway to Wicker Park. The duo, who now lease out their mainstage on a seasonlong basis to the House Theatre of Chicago but have also produced many shows themselves, made the case in an interview last week that their purchase of the Chopin in 1990 actually paved the way for the cultural growth that made Wicker Park, well, Wicker Park.

“I think we changed the whole neighborhood,” Zygmunt Dyrkacz said.

In that spirit, the owners have invited to the party such fellow early WIcker Park players as the Guild Complex (a literary group founded in 1989), the Bop Shop (a cutting-edge, avant-garde jazz club of the 1990s), Chicago Latino Theatre (one of the first Chicago theaters in Wicker Park until it was destroyed by fire) and the Around the Coyote art festival, a famously freewheeling, multivenue festival of art that in many ways established Wicker Park as an artistic community in the 1990s and early aughts.

In an interview Thursday, Around the Coyote co-founder Elizabeth Burke-Dain said that she’s recently been cleaning out her basement of all of her Around the Coyote artwork. “It really doesn’t seem that long ago,” she said, a tad wistfully. For many years, she noted, virtually the entire creative community of Chicago showed up at something at Around the Coyote.

The Bop Shop’s Kate Smith had similar memories, speaking by phone of fond memories of the club’s singular reputation for cutting-edge music and its support of emerging musicians. “I think we contributed,” she said, understating her own influence.

For his part, Dyrkacz, long a colorful, loquacious and outspoken character, has long-standing issues with what he sees as the City of Chicago’s privileging of big downtown players at the expense of his own privately curated arts center, along with what he bluntly describes as “the disappearance of Chicago’s intellectuals.” A 66-year-old Polish immigrant himself, Dyrkacz has for years ensured that the Chopin’s lobby and side rooms look like they belong to a theater with roots in Polish culture: You’ll find Polish art, tchotchkes and, at the bar, Zywiec, the Polish beer of choice.

Plenty of hipsters and condo dwellers find their way to the Chopin these days. In recent years, they’ve been able to see all manner of entertainments, including a production of “Our Town” in the basement that was directed by David Cromer and went on to become one of the most famous Chicago shows of all times.

But if the Chopin was a pioneer there, it also never has lost its connection to its earliest incarnation as a place where those Chicagoans either born in, or tied to, the nation of Poland could find themselves comforted and entertained.

Twoje zdrowie. Here’s to the next 100 years”.

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100 Years In Wicker Park: The Chopin Theatre’s Revival Brought Elegance To Gritty Polish Triangle – Alisa Hauser 10/24/18 BlockClubChicago.org

“When Zygmunt Dyrkacz bought the shuttered and boarded up Chopin Theatre in 1990, Wicker Park was a gritty place.  There were “ladies of the evening” on the corners, old tires piled in alleys and many buildings were vacant, Dyrkacz said. A developer wanted to buy an apartment building near the theater and tear it down to build a gas station.

Zygmunt and his wife Lela Headd Dyrkacz have energized the Polish Triangle through their Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. The iconic venue presents more than 500 events a year ranging from theater to jazz and classical music, literary events, films and social events.  Built in 1918 as the Chopin Theater, the venue changed names a few times under different owners before becoming a bank in the 1950s. The facade of the building, designed by architects Worthmann & Steinbach, had bullet holes in it when Dyrkacz bought it.

Dyrkacz reopened the theater in 1991 during the Around the Coyote Arts Festival, initially calling it “the Gallery” because he was interested in visual arts. A year later he renamed the theater back to its original name.  Chopin’s second show in November 1991, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” was produced and directed by actor John Cusack, just one of hundreds of performers from dozens of theatrical and musical troupes who’ve called Chopin home over the past three decades.

On Monday, members of the community are invited to celebrate the building’s 100th year with the Dyrkaczs. Described on a poster as “a sentimental journey into 1990s Wicker Park,” the party runs from 5 p.m.-midnight. It will include roundtable discussions, food, music and a dance party.   Admission is free for artists and technicians that have performed at Chopin Theatre. Tickets for the general public, priced at $30, can be bought online.

“It’s hard to explain all the dynamics of what we do. We are not just turning over keys and renting out the space. We are very active, and want the space to be well run. It’s about how can art make life, which is officially drudgery, more bearable?” Lela Dyrkacz said.  She never thought she’d be in this line of work.

In 2001, Lela Dyrkacz, then Lela Headd, was living in Boystown and working as a brand manager for Kraft Foods, putting in long days with an even longer commute.

“I didn’t have much of a social life and thought if I did volunteer work, I would have a richer and more meaningful life,” she said. She joined the “saints” and became part of a small army of volunteers who get to see shows at theaters around the city for free as long as they greet patrons and help them to find their seats.

While on on her second saints’ assignment at Chopin Theatre, ushering for a show called “Search and Destroy,” Headd, then 31, met Dyrkacz, who was 49.  They hit it off and were married within 10 days.

A few years later, Lela Dyrkacz was laid off from Kraft Foods during a merger as she and Zygmunt were expecting their first son. She never went back to corporate America and joined her husband in running the theater.

“Being an entrepreneur was not on my radar. It’s an example of trusting your heart and your gut,” she said. They’ve been together for 18 years, raising their two sons, now 14 and 12, in addition to two other sons of Dyrkacz’s from his first marriage.  Lela Dyrkacz describes their marriage and running a business together as “an adventure.”

“We are both lucky [to have met each other],” she said.   Zygmunt Dyrkacz said, “We have nothing in common.  Beauty and the beast, young and old, black and white, American and Polish.”

Both are from working class backgrounds: Lela Dyrkacz grew up partly in Bronzeville’s Stateway Gardens after her dad was injured in an accident at work and Dyrkacz was raised in Kalisv, Poland by a single mom.

“It was socialistic Poland, one of the most depressing places you could be,” Dyrkacz said.   A trained scientist specializing in insects and biochemistry, Dyrkacz moved to Chicago in 1980, initially living in Hyde Park.

“I was always interested in art and creativity and open mindedness. I didn’t want to be in front of a computer, spending a life in a lab didn’t appeal to me,” Dyrkacz said of his decision to eventually own a theater.

They describe themselves as “resourceful with a good sense of stamina,” qualities that have helped them to operate a private for-profit theater that they boast has brought more than 1 million folks to the neighborhood.  “We attribute [theater longevity] to ignorance is bliss. You persevere and you don’t know what isn’t supposed to be possible,” Lela Dyrkacz said.   The theater offers 225 seats on its main floor and an additional 176 seats in the basement.

In a review of the current basement production, “The Walls of Harrow House,” Reader critic Dan Jakes said the basement of the Chopin Theatre “has been host to some of the most extraordinary immersive theater experiences in Chicago.”  On the main floor, The House Theatre of Chicago’s “Borealis” is currently wrapping up its run before the troupe launches its seventh season of “The Nutcracker” next month.

The lobby of Chopin Theatre is packed with antiques and engaging artwork plus a wine and coffee bar open during performances.  “I think it’s what makes the space interesting, you come in and are overwhelmed by all these sensory things, the art on the wall, the color palette,” Lela Dyrkacz said. Dyrkacz fears that Americans are moving away from traditional theater at at a time when they are distracted and need it most.

“One of the most exciting things for people to do at the theater is to be part of community, to be immersed and inspired. The corporate-muscled Downtown musicals are very different than a small to mid sized theater like ours,” Dyrkacz said.

For those who’ve lived in the area for years but never ventured inside the Chopin Theater, Dyrkacz suggests this coming Monday’s party as a good introduction.

Dean Richards’ Sunday Morning 10.14.18 | Apple Picking Tips, 100 Years of the Chopin Theater and the Armstrong Brothers – Dean Richards, WBEZ10/14/18 – “This week on Dean Richards’ Sunday Morning:

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How the Chopin Theatre helped revitalize Wicker Park – Justin Kaufman, WBEZ 11/1/18

“Zygmunt Dyrkacz and Lela Dyrkacz join Justin to discuss the history of the Chopin Theatre and the importance of the theater to the Wicker Park community. Zygmunt and Lela talk about the building that houses the Chopin Theatre being 100 years old, what they knew about the building when they bought it in 1990, what they learned about the building since 1990, what it means to be part of the theatrical community in Wicker Park, how the neighborhood has changed over the years, how the theater has adapted to the neighborhood and the 7 hour birthday bash on Monday, October 29th.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO – Chopin Theatre, the multidisciplinary arts center in the heart of Wicker Park, 1543 W. Division, turns 100 in 2018. To mark the centennial anniversary, owners Lela Headd Dyrkacz and Zygmunt Dyrkacz are hosting a celebration on Oct 29 from 5 p.m. to Midnight, providing a sneak peek of the forthcoming book on Nov. 5 during the “All Souls Jazz Festival” and releasing the book “Around Chopin Theatre: A Century in Pictures & Stories”on Nov. 24. The Oct. 29 celebration is free for past artists associated with Chopin Theatre and general admission tickets are $30. For more information and to RSVP visit www.ChopinTheatre.com

Monday, October 29

Schedule of Events:

Chopin Studio/Pregnant Buffalo Lounge

6:45-8p.m. – “Made in Wicker Park” – Leaders of Around the Coyote, Bop Shop, Chicago Latino Theater and Guild Complex   come back to Chicago with reflections of their former venues in Wicker Park. What would it take for them to stay in Chicago.

Chopin Theatre Main Stage

Celebration is free for past artists associated with Chopin Theatre. General admission, $30.

Monday November 5th

Saturday November 24th

According to the Theater Historical Society of America, the theater opened March 11, 1918 and was designed by architects Worthmann & Steinbach. The nickelodeon originally had 546 seats and was operated by Victor Bardonski. In 1923 it was renamed the Harding and the seating capacity was expanded to 987. By 1931 it was called the Chopin again but underwent another name change to the Pix Theater. The building is located across the Polish Triangle in the area once known as Polish Downtown.

In 1955 the building changed to Security Federal Savings & Loan which later moved across the street. When the Dyrkaczs purchased the building in 1990, it was vacant except for the small 200 sq. ft Eddie’s Bistro. The Dyrkaczs have restored it to its present charm. Today, across three stages, Chopin Theatre presents over 500 events annually ranging from theater to jazz and classical music, literary events, films and social events.

Since 1990, Chopin Theatre has prese