From Back Room to Back Stage

The Architect's Newspaper: “Why is opening a theater such a big deal?” Michael Halberstam, artistic director and cofounder of the Writers Theatre, asked a jovial crowd in the Litowitz Atrium at the ribbon cutting of the new Studio Gang–designed playhouse in the North Shore suburb of Glencoe, Illinois. For a mid-February day, the weather was cooperating with Halberstam’s impassioned speech about the role of the theater as both a building typology and a cultural pursuit. Dramatic clouds broke to let a clear winter sunlight cascade through the fritted glass as he continued: “A theater seduces you into empathic communication. When it’s at its best, audiences find themselves in a heart-guided meditation, which is at once both entertaining and provocative.”