The Apollo Theater (no relation to New York City's Apollo Theatre) is a lush venue with a prestigious reputation, located in the heart of Chicago's fashionable Lincoln Park neighborhood. Built in 1978 by theatre producers Jason Brett and Stuart Oken and twice renovated, the Apollo boasts a dramatic glass and concrete design conceived by Chicagoan Michael Lustig. Its three-quarter thrust stage has 440 plush seats configured in just eleven rows, allowing audiences a theatrical experience unparalleled in intimacy and accessibility.
The Apollo Theater has a rich theatrical history. For its inaugural engagement, producers Oken and Brett chose Albert Innaurato's Gemini,which featured the production's original Broadway director, Peter Schifter. David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago became a smash hit at the Apollo, starring Jim Belushi in his dramatic stage debut and directed by former Second City Artistic Director Sheldon Patinkin.
