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History

1995

  • The Actors Gymnasium is founded by Tony Adler, Carlyle Coash, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi and Larry DiStasi to develop among theater professionals the skills and tools needed to create more exciting and unique theater.
  • One hundred and thirty students enroll in the first class session.
  • Fox Thing in the Morning segment features The Actors Gymnasium.
  • The Actors Gymnasium, together with the Lookingglass Theatre, creates the Lookingglass World Circus, an adaptation of world folk tales using circus arts; an outreach show for schools and Chicago Park District’s mini-festivals.

1996

  • Workshop with Avner Eisenberg, Avner the Eccentric. Participants receive a firm grounding in physical comedy techniques. (Avner the Eccentric was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame in 2002.)
  • Actors Gymnasium faculty and students featured on WTTW’s Wild Chicago!

1997

  • Marcel Marceau taught the language of pantomime in a three-day, master class series.
  • Faculty teaches the new circus component of the Evanston Arts Camp.
  • Chicago Reader selects school’s Faculty Performance as Critics Choice; featuring original work by Donna Blue Lachman, playwright, actress and Actors Gym instructor.

1998

  • Under the guidance of Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member, Thom Cox, ten adolescent circus students adapt and stage a Siberian folktale, The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon.
  • Leonard Eto, recognized master of Japanese taiko drumming gives workshop and performance.
  • Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi choreographs Piven Theatre’s production of Orlando, by Virginia Woolf.

1999

  • World premiere of Baron in the Trees, adapted from I. Calvino’s novel and directed by Actors Gym founder, Larry DiStasi. Produced in association with Lookingglass Theatre. It one the Jeff Award for Choreography and was nominated for Best Adaptation. "Highly recommended" by Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times.
  • With a Trapezoid Heart, was created and directed by puppeteer Michael Montenegro and produced at the Actors Gymnasium. Characters from this original piece of circus-theater were developed even further in the first Flying Griffin Circus in 2000.
  • First year of Actors Gymnasium Circus and Performing Arts Summer Camp. 
  • Faculty continues to teach the circus component of Evanston’s Arts Camp through 2000.

2000 – Fifth Year Anniversary

  • The Actor Gymnasium’s resident professional troupe debuts in the highly original Flying Griffin Circus, described as “down home magic” by Lawrence Bommer of the Chicago Reader.

2001

  • Museum of Science & Industry "Under the Big Top" exhibit. Nine months in residence at the museum, conducting classes, running a summer camp and publicly demonstrating circus skills.
  • Iktu Blas Production: Actors Gymnasium produces this original puppet play by local master Michael Montenegro for Chicago’s Puppetropolis Festival.
  • Hard Times, produced in association with Lookingglass Theatre, featuring circus choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi.  Opens in Spring 2001, reopens in Fall 2002, and again in Philadelphia the summer of 2004.  Receives five Jeff awards including Best Production and Best Choreography.
  • Gulliver’s Circus, the second production of the Flying Griffin Circus is a world premiere adaptation of the Jonathan Swift novel. 

2002

  • Bumblinni Brothers’ first production. Highly Recommended in the Chicago Reader.  (Act evolved from the first Flying Griffin Circus)
  • MacArthur Fellow Michael Moschen gives a juggling workshop and performance.
  • La Luna Muda, inspired by an I. Calvino short story, produced in association with Lookingglass Theatre, plays to sold out houses.

2003

  • Flying Griffin Circus: All the Time in the World enlightens and educates sold-out audiences with its creative interpretations of time and physics.  Highly Recommended in the Chicago Reader.
  • Co-Produced Blair Thomas’s Buster Keaton’s Stroll & Other Stories: A collection of Solo Puppet Theater by master puppeteer, Blair Thomas.
  • Bumblinni Brothers’ New and Improved Show.
  • Pilobolus Dance Theatre Workshops: Five days of dance-making classes taught by this company celebrated for its combination of athleticism, humor, and startling imagery.
  • Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi choreographs the partner stunts for Tri-Arts Theatre’s Hfob-n-tales.

2004

  • Magician Sean Masterson performs his highly acclaimed, original production, Seek Wonder, and a magic workshop.
  • Gemini Twins Aerial Workshop with Elsie Smith.

2005 – Tenth Year Anniversary

  • Bumblinni Brothers perform Arrivederci, Bumbilinnis,
  • Gemini Twins Aerial Workshop with Elsie Smith.
  • Lookingglass Alice at Lookingglass Theatre produced in association with The Actors Gymnasium. Circus choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi; five-person cast includes co-founder Lawrence E. DiStasi and student Lauren Hirte. Plays to sold out houses, rave reviews and a six-week extension.
  • Carnival! at Cahn Auditorium, produced by Light Opera Works in association with The Actors Gymnasium.  Receives rave reviews and is “Highly Recommended” in the Chicago Sun-Times.
  • First show of Advanced Student Series, Tangerine Family Circus opens.   Production is cited in Windy City Times for its “dazzling skills and exuberant sparkle of the company.”
  • Jeff Award to Co-Artistic Director, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi - Special Achievement in Circus Choreography for Lookingglass Alice.
  • Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi serves as aerial consultant for Piven Theatre’s Jewish Stories.

2006

  • Second show of Advanced Student Series, Circus Crashers, opens. Show features the Gym’s Teen Ensemble who share in creative and production responsibilities. Highly Recommended in the Reader.  Reviewer Jack Helbig describes the Teen Ensemble as “fearless, powerful” ensemble members who “execute amazing, sometimes terrifying tricks without seeming to raise a sweat.”
  • Life in Progress Productions tapes an adult Circus Arts class for Showtime Cable.
  • Summer Intensive begins. Intensive faculty includes David Catlin (physical theatre) of Lookingglass Theatre, Sylvia  Hernandez-DiStasi (circus arts), Tommy Rapely (acting, dance) and Nourbol Meirmanov (acrobatics).
  • The third show of Advanced Student Series, The Tempest, A Magical Circus opens.  Victoria Scott in the Evanston RoundTable wrote :”Even the smallest audience members respond to lovers who swing on the trapeze, clowns who fall and somersault, nymphs who frolic high overhead on silks and ropes, and over-sized spirits who glide on stilts.”
  • Larry DiStasi is a panelist on Physical Theatre sponsored by Chicago’s Cultural Affairs.

2007

  • Lookingglass Alice opens at McCarter, Princeton, NJ.
  • Clown Without A Circus, Ottavio Canestrelli’s one-man show opens at The Actors Gym.
  • Lookingglass Alice opens at New Victory, New York City.
  • Compliments of Chicago Flyhouse - Gym’s rigging capability expanded.
  • Lookingglass Alice opens at Arden Theatre in Philadelphia.
  • The fourth show in the Advanced Student Series, The Truest Tale of Robin Hood, opens at The Actors Gym.
  • Lookinglass Alice returns to Chicago and is sold out until closing on September 8, 2007.
    84,000 people saw Alice during its 2007 run on the East Coast and in Chicago.
  • Sean Masterson’s Magic Mastery Workshop and Matinee is held at The Actors Gymnasium.
  • Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi is a member of a panel on Physical Theater. Talk sponsored by Chicago Shakespeare in conjunction with James Thierree’s Farewell, Umbrella tour.

2008

  • Northwestern University Movement Class begins. The Actors Gymnasium begins teaching this required course for all NU undergraduate Theatre Majors in 2008.
  • Members of Teen Ensemble perform in Lookingglass Theatre’s remount of Hephaestus.
  • The fifth show in the Advanced Student Series, Neverwhere, A Circus Underground, opens at The Actors Gym.
  • The Dynamics of Nature, An Introduction to the stylistic teachings of Jacques Lecoq, taught by Alden Moore, a graduate of the Lecoq School.
  • Fly! Gym Renovation Benefit Performance at The Actors Gymnasium. Professional performers include aerialist Jill Heyser, magician Sean Masterson, puppeteer Michael Montenegro, hula hoop artist Dizzy Lizzy, and double trapeze artists Lijana Hernandez and Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi.

2009

  • Steppenwolf Theatre begins rehearsing Tempest at The Actors Gymnasium. Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi is the aerial designer.
  • Dream, A Circus in One Act. This family-friendly, circus show is created and directed by Larry DiStasi, and choreographed by Sylvia Hernandez DiStasi.  Original music by Greg Hirte.  Chicago Reader writes: “Who doesn’t love a circus – especially one this charming?”
  • Lookingglass Alice, the wildly successful Lookingglass production in association with The Actors Gymnasium tours to Syracuse, Louisville, and Atlanta. Nearly 40,000 people saw the show over a 12 week period.
  • First installment of Circus in Progress. This performance series showcases new works of circus art. Professionals from the Chicagoland circus community are featured as well as advanced students from The Actors Gymnasium's own classes.
  • Nightmare: A Teen Ensemble Halloween Circus Spectacular.
  • Icarus opens downtown at the Wather Tower Water Works. This co-production with Lookingglass Theatre was seen by 8,500.  Icarus featured Larry DiStasi as Daedalus with choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi.

2010 – Fifteenth Year Anniversary

  • Rigging Workshop given by Mark Witteveen of Chicago Flyhouse.
  • The Actors Gymnasium receives the 2009 Mayor's Arts Organization Award from Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.
  • Science Fiction:An Experiment in Circus. Science Fiction opens and runs for six weeks. Called "a funny and kinetic show the whole family can enjoy" by the Evanston Roundtable.
  • Teeterboard Workshop at Actors Gym – taught by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi.
  • Lookingglass Alice (Actors Gym co-production) opens its tenth remount - Chicago.