Artist Bio

From its founding in 1974 through the present day, Victory Gardens Theater has dedicated itself to playwrights and their works as well as emphasizing the development of an ethnically and culturally diverse community of artists. Recipient of the 2001 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Victory Gardens continues to expand on its new works initiative through its 14-member Playwrights Ensemble, as well as work from playwrights who are changing theater in the United States and abroad. Victory Gardens has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater.

In 2006, Victory Gardens successfully completed an $11.8 million renovation of Chicago’s famed Biograph Theater, and moved two blocks north from its longtime venue at 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue, to its beautiful new home in one of Chicago’s most celebrated historic landmarks. Renamed the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, the new venue opened with a state-of-the-art 299-seat mainstage which has greatly expanded the company’s artistic flexibility, while enhancing Victory Gardens ability to welcome patrons old and new.

Last summer, Victory Gardens completed the second phase of renovation at the Biograph, building an intimate, new, 109-seat studio theater on the second floor of the Biograph. On March 1, 2010, Victory Gardens new studio was officially named the Richard Christiansen Theater, in honor of the Chicago Tribune Chief Critic Emeritus and longtime champion of Chicago’s live theater scene.

(September 2010)