When Sharon Evans and John Ragir announced a couple of weeks ago that they were closing Live Bait Theatre after a 20-year run, you could hear the collective groan from writers and solo artists all over Chicago. Live Bait has become their home, their destination, the place where they know their script would be treated fairly and have a great production, and the place where they could just drop in with a great solo idea and have it be taken seriously—and produced... Read more.
Live Bait goes on block as owners mull changes
By Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
January 15, 2008
For more than 20 years, Wrigleyville-based Live Bait Theater has been one of those Chicago storefront theater operations where quirkiness and creativity thrived year-round. Sharon Evans and John Ragir, its husband-and-wife owner-operators, not only "lived above the store," but also served as playwrights, directors, designers, producers, impresarios of celebrity doodles and landlord for itinerant theater ensembles. They were full-service, mom-and-pop fringe theater enablers who oversaw 200 world premieres... Read more.
