Chicago, III., was little more than a village until about 1830. Its first theatre, the Rialto, opened in 1838 under the management of John B. Rice and closed in 1840, the second Joseph
Jefferson being a member of the company. Rice's own theatre was built in 1847 and burned down three years later. In 1857 John H. McVicker built what was described as ‘the most substantial, convenient, safe, and costly theatre building standing in the west’, which was destroyed in the disastrous fire of 1871 and immediately rebuilt on the same site. Ten years later J. H. Haverly opened a theatre which he hoped would outdo McVicker's, though it seated only 2,000 against its rival's 2,600. In 1885 Irving's company on its first American tour appeared at Haverly's, which was then rechristened the Columbia Theatre at a ceremony presided over by Ellen
Terry. The Auditorium, opened in 1889, was reputed to be the largest theatre in the United States at the time, seating 4,500 and having outstandingly good acoustics. The vast Spectatorium planned by Steele
Mackaye for the Chicago Exposition of 1893 was abandoned owing to the financial panic of that year. From 1900 Chicago became almost totally dependent on New York for theatrical entertainment. The opening of the
Goodman Theatre in 1925 improved the city's theatrical reputation, though it tended to be regarded mainly as a staging post on the touring circuit until the 1970s, when a big growth in theatre audiences was stimulated by the formation of groups such as the St Nicholas Theatre Company and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The Chicago Theatre Company, founded in 1984, is a Black theatre group. A League of Chicago Theatres was founded in 1979 and a number of productions originating in the city achieved successful runs in New York, including the plays of David
Mamet.
