“Touch and Go.” If there were a play about how the Open Door Repertory Company ultimately opened its doors, that would be the name. Finally celebrating the theater’s grand opening October 21–22, founder Mary Pat Sieck and a retinue of investors, supporters, and crew let out a collective sigh of relief that after 32 months they would not, after all, see their dream exit stage right.
Starting in 2009, this long-awaited project has been fraught with obstacles. First was raising the $115,000 needed to build the space at 902 S. Ridgeland. That money came from a combination of private loans, significant donations, and fund-raising events. Then came overhauling everything inside, all of which is now new, including the heating and air-conditioning, floors and walls, and bathrooms. The stage, seating, and reception area also had to be designed from scratch, a task handled masterfully by architect Errol Jay Kirsch.
The real challenge, however, was a plot twist of Barrie Park proportions: a long-forgotten, buried gas station discovered on the first day of construction. “Obviously we couldn’t do any construction,” Sieck said. “It was a difficult time to raise any money because of the general uncertainty surrounding the project—not our commitment to it, but whether or not the site would be determined to be safe by the EPA.”
The remediation process took nine uncertain months, but Sieck kept the faith. “It seemed as if every time we came to a dark place, where we questioned if we should or could move forward someone was there with whatever we needed—whether that was money, time, skills, the right encouraging word—someone else demonstrated their belief in what we were doing and gave us the boost to keep going. There was never a time that didn’t happen,” she said.
It also helped that Sieck had a supportive landlord, Jerry Bloom, who gave private investors a sense of security. According to Sieck, from the very first day Bloom’s only question had been, “What do I need to do?” That commitment, she said, kept investors onboard and made the remediation a reality. In February 2011 Open Door finally received a “Letter of No Further Remediation Needed” from the Illinois EPA.
With a clean bill of health in hand, the company began preproduction on “Smokey Joe’s Café,” a musical celebrating the songs of Lieber and Stoller. Sieck considered it a tribute to those who had stood by the theater company during its difficult times, and, in fact, the closing song was “Stand By Me.” “It was our way of honoring all the people who grew the theater between 1997 and 2009,” she said.
The next production, which will be ready just in time for the holidays, is Peter Baker’s “One Man Christmas Carol.” Beloved Oak Park pediatrician, longtime member of the Oak Park Village Players, and a Dickens aficionado, Dr. Baker’s six performances will be a family treat to look forward to in the first two weeks of December.
And, for anyone interested in the stories behind nonreligious Christmas songs like “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Silver Bells,” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” musical historian Charles Troy will present “The Secular Songs of Christmas, 1933–1952,” the third weekend in December. Well known in the northern suburbs, Troy’s productions typically draw large audiences, and Sieck is excited to showcase his work.
With those pieces in place, the company will rent the space in early spring and host improv nights with music groups, sketch comedies, and other performing arts. The first in Open Door’s Earl Bitoy Series, “Train Is Comin’,” will then open the next season. According to Sieck, this production is a “joyful retelling of the beginning of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who brought the African American spirituals from the slave fields to the broader community and made them a part of the American music spectrum.”
Long dedicated to the ideal of diversity, Sieck’s productions have often sought to include challenging themes. As she says, “Open Door’s commitment is to produce theater that entertains and provokes, and that reflects the diversity of the community we serve—that reflects their voice. We have produced classical American theater … we have produced works by African American playwrights … we have produced plays that address discrimination, whether by race or sexual orientation … and we have produced plays by Native American playwrights and Mexican American playwrights.”
Sieck also hopes to include younger people in the community by offering four-week summer camps and shows geared toward small children. “Down the road,” she said, “I would love to have a high school program where the students not only perform but also create their own works.”
Aware of the challenges ahead, Sieck hopes to stay flexible enough with the business plan to make the space work in many ways, for many purposes, for many people. She admits such aspirations will take time. But time is a challenge she’s met before. It’s just touch and go.

This article was originally published in the Buzz Café Newsletter. It is reprinted here with permission.