Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier renovation was “one of the most unique and challenging projects I have worked on”, said Michael Block.

The renovation consisted of taking the existing outdoor Shakespeare Theater and enclosing it so that the theater can be used year round.

The start of the construction consisted of removing everything but the steel structure and the back of house areas. After the gut was completed, Jerry Martin and his crew started installing over 95,000 feet of conduit in about a 21,500 square foot building.

The Chicago Shakespeare design was one of a kind. The new theater is designed with 9 seating towers that can be reconfigured for each production.

The movable seating towers allow the Shakespeare Theater to have up to 6 different seating arrangements. Each seating tower has its own HVAC, fire alarm, lighting, audio visual, and power connections that are run from 50 foot cords to the surrounding walls of the theater. Each tower can seat 50 people and the total theater can seat up to 850 people.

Thank you to Jerry Martin and his crew, including Rick Madison, Kevin Gonzales, Joe Sambucaro, Dave Gonzalez, Dan Crane, John Merlak, Josh Howen, Larry Parker, Scott Scanlan and Tim Arvesen. for all their hard work.