New Piven Theater Location Remains Uncertain

By Daniel I. Dorfman 

A proposal has been floated to move the Piven Theater Workshop to downtown Evanston, but the situation remains murky for both financial and physical reasons. Representatives of the city, Piven and other groups met Wednesday in an effort to undo the logjam regarding the nationally renowned arts group and its future in Evanston.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, 6th Ward Alderman Mark Tendam floated the idea of moving the Piven group – and other organizations - out of the Noyes Cultural Arts Center at 927 Noyes St. and placing the groups in a yet-to-be-determined building downtown. This idea comes as a way to end the lengthy dispute between Piven and other tenants at the Noyes building who are not happy with Piven’s proposal for a new lease.

Tendam along with members of the city’s economic development team met with representatives of Piven, and fellow Noyes Cultural Center tenant Next Theatre Company Wednesday to have initial discussions as to whether Piven and possibly two other groups could be relocated somewhere downtown. Tendam talked about having a building west of the Metra/Purple Line tracks, but east of Ridge Avenue near Davis Street.

“This would be a huge anchor in pumping up the economic development on Davis Street,” he said.

One of Tendam’s concerns is that the Noyes building may not be appropriate at this point to hold both visual and performing arts given the size of the building.

Yet one of the many questions hanging over the proposal is whether it would be a new construction or a renovation of an existing building.

“We are looking for a rather large lot that would have multiple theatres,” Tendam said. “But they also want to have classrooms. So I think of this as a multi-theatre building.”

The next question is where the money would come from for a new facility. While not ruling out the possibility of some city money, Tendam believes there could be financing available from government agencies such as the NEA or corporate sponsorships if a well known group of artists were to be placed in one facility.

“Everybody likes a winner and these three theatre groups are a winner,” Tendam said. “This would be an A team and I don’t know if it has been a model that has been established.”

Both Piven and the Next Theatre Group are taking a wait-and-see attitude at this point.

“We talked about if we were to move forward with Alderman Tendam’s idea of discussing an alternative option, we need to determine a structure for that,” noted Executive Director Leslie Brown. “Who is at the table, how will it be funded, and what the physical space looks like?”

Jon Arndt, Next’s Managing Director added, “It is hard to say what our standpoint is until we saw the pricetag, but something has to happen. Whether or not they accept Piven’s proposal or if they decide go downtown, they have to do something because the building is in bad shape.”

Next has been in the Noyes building since its inception in 1981. It leases the space from the city with the next expiration coming in 2015.

Piven has been seeking a new 50-year lease in the existing Noyes Cultural Center their home since 1976, but is asking for a loan from the city not to exceed $2.2 million for renovations to the dilapidated building.

Maggie Weiss of the Noyes Tenants Association was open to the idea as well, but wondered about the timing. There has been a lot of heated rhetoric involving that association amid concerns Piven was getting too much from the city in its proposal.

“It would be incredible if that were possible, but I am very skeptical that that could be accomplished in two weeks, she said. “If this were a genuine consideration, wouldn’t the city have explored this further?”

Tendam is hoping to have some clarity on the issue by the City Council’s July 22nd meeting. It is highly doubtful a full agreement could be in place by then, but if there is enough indication of interest from all sides, that could be enough of a foundation to build upon.

“What I am looking for is letters of enthusiastic support for going ahead with this downtown theatre arts center,” he said.