Chopin Theatre is an American for-profit cultural organization located along Polonia Triangle

Polonia Triangle

Polonia Triangle , also known as the Polish Triangle, is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown area of Chicago. It is bound by Division, Ashland and Milwaukee Avenue. A single-tiered fountain made of black iron with a bowl about nine feet in diameter is installed...

 in Wicker Park within the West Town

West Town, Chicago

West Town, located in Chicago, Illinois, northwest of the Loop, is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Its name may refer to Western Avenue, which was the city's western boundary at the time of West Town's settlement, but more likely was a convenient abstraction by the creators...

 community area

Community areas of Chicago

Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...

 of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Located in the heart of the old Polish Downtown along Division Street

Division Street (Chicago)

Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North . Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's...

, it is situated in what is considered to be one of Chicago's more artistic communities.

Building

The building of the Chopin Theatre was designed in 1918 by M.F. Strunch Architects as a 987 seat theater at 1541-43 W. Division Street

Division Street (Chicago)

Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North . Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's...

. According to the Theatre Historical Society of America

Theatre Historical Society of America

The Theatre Historical Society of America is an IRS-approved 501 non-profit educational organization, located in Elmhurst, Illinois on the second floor of Classic Cinemas historic York Theater....

, the theatre's name has changed named several times over the years from Chopin Theatre to Harding Theatre, back to Chopin Theatre and then to Pix Theatre from 1940-1948. During the next 40 years it went through a number of alternate uses as a banking center, a restaurant and a discothèque. In 1990 the vacant building was purchased by Zygmunt Dyrkacz and gradually restored.

Productions

Since its founding in 1990 Chopin Theatre's purpose has been to support, present and produce multi-cultural avante garde theatre, literary, film, visual and performance art events. During its 17 year history it has featured approximately 7000 presentations (5000 theatrical, 1000 film, 800 poetry evenings and over 100 music events) across its two stages. Its main presenters have included Chicago Filmmakers, Guild Complex, Young Chicago Authors, Collaboraction Theater, Roadworks Productions as well as the Hypocrites, Signal Theatre, Teatro Vista and Uma Productions.

Chopin Theatre has produced over 110 of its own productions, mostly from Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

, and has hosted performers from almost every state in the U.S. and from over 40 countries. Its many guests have included Pulitzer winners Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.-Biography:...

, Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly...

 and Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel

Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...

; writers Stuart Dybek

Stuart Dybek

-Personal life:Dybek was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dybek graduated from St. Rita of Cascia High School in 1959...

, Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is a modern American author of detective fiction.-Life and career:Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Kansas, graduating from the University of Kansas with a degree in political science. She did community service work on the south side of Chicago in 1966 and returned in...

 and Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith is a British novelist. To date she has written three novels. In 2003, she was included on Granta's list of 20 best young authors...

; poets Nikki Giovanni and Luis Rodriguez; actors John Cusack, Jeremy Piven and Clemens Schick; musicians Grazyna Auguscik, Peter Brotzman, Chuck D., Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling is an American jazz vocalist, composer, lyricist and vocalese performer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling first became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church...

and Von Freeman.

Critical reception

Chopin Theatre's 3-year production of Teatr Cogitatur resulted in the plays Aztec Hotel, Four Dreams of Holderlein and La Luna to be considered among the "Best of Theatre" listings for 2003, 2004 and 2005 per Chicago Tribune.