Redmoon Theater, a performance company that has been a staple in Chicago for decades, announced Monday it is closing its doors for good.
Citing an inability to fund and support their “unique artistic vision,” the company said its “innovations haven’t been able to keep up with our civic goals.”
“It has been an honor to serve the city of Chicago for the past 25 years,” the company wrote in a letter. “We have been blessed to work in and with over 40 of Chicago's 77 official neighborhoods and to bring our unique brand of spectacle to some of our finest institutions; to many of the city's most revered public sites; and most importantly to some of its most overlooked neighborhoods.”
The artistic vision the theater references includes the 2014 Great Chicago Fire Festival, which drew 30,000 people to the Chicago River for an event designed to “celebrate Chicago’s grit, greatness and renewal following the fire of 1871.” But the festival received much criticism after a series of floating sculptures failed to ignite amid cold, rainy weather in what was intended to be the main spectacle of the event.
The company also tried to start a rental business in its newest venue, but a reported dispute with the landlord led to complications with performances, including a failed hologram concert involving rapper Chief Keef.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the venue’s owner Phillip Mumford, sued Redmoon in october seeking $62,082.22 in unpaid September and October rent. The report indicates the two are due back in court Wednesday.
“We apologize to anyone this unexpected closure has inconvenienced,” the theater’s statement read. “Please know that we do not take this decision lightly or without ardent effort to conclude differently. To those who supported us, we are endlessly grateful. To those who enjoyed us, we are pleased to have added to your lives. To those we served, to those who were touched or moved or perhaps even inspired, it is to you we have the greatest debt. You provided meaning to our mission and purpose to our work.”
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Founded in 1990, Redmoon is known for its annual Halloween pageant in Logan Square. Though the theater is not allowed to publicize their gig in DC, at least one tweet from the Redmoon twitter account refers to “a Halloween party in a huge house.”
Redmoon has been at the center of many Chicago-related special events, including the Millennium Park inauguration parties in 2004, and the 2007 Looptopia in downtown Chicago.
"Our consolation at this sad moment is that Redmoon is bigger than this non-profit institution," the statement said. "It is a spirit that survives us. It lives in you, our patrons and partners. It is a memory sown into each of the sites that have hosted us. Most of all, we are consoled that Redmoon's mission to celebrate and uplift community is a shared concern powering amazing, if under-recognized, activity all over this great city."
