Artistic Director Dennis Zacek and Executive Director Jan Kallish are thrilled to announce the naming of the new 109 seat studio theater upstairs at the Biograph, the Richard Christiansen Theater, in honor of the Chicago Tribune chief critic emeritus and longtime champion of Chicago’s live theater scene.

Richard Christiansen’s role in the rise and success of the Chicago theater community is unparalleled. We are all indebted to him, and it gives us great pleasure to provide him with a ‘theater of his own’. We feel it is fitting that our beautiful new studio theater be named in honor of Richard, in recognition of his unique and enduring contributions to the most vibrant theatre scene on the planet. No one has done more for Chicago Theater and no one deserves to have a theater named after him more than Richard Christiansen.

The naming of the Richard Christiansen Theater is the centerpiece of our Campaign for Growth, a $1 Million campaign that will enable us to continue and expand our long time commitment to new work, diverse audiences, access, and education. Programmatic initiatives such as our hugely successful IGNITION Festival and Fresh Squeezed will continue to flourish on both stages through the funds raised from this campaign.

We invite you to participate in honoring Richard by supporting the Richard Christiansen Theater and Campaign for Growth by donating today. Help us reach our goal of $1 Million.

As part of the Campaign for Growth, a special Artists’ Tribute Fund is being created specifically for artists to honor Christiansen’s tireless support of Chicago theater. Participants in the Artists’ Tribute Fund will be announced shortly, and are pledging to match fellow artists’ donations dollar for dollar.

Lead support for the Richard Christiansen Theater is generously provided by Polk Bros. Foundation. Richard Christiansen Theater tribute Co-Chairs are Margie Korshak and Jane Nicholl Sahlins. Campaign for Growth Co-Chairs are Fred Bates and Penny Brown.