Interview Chris Ritter on closing the Lakeshore Theater

April Fools’ Day went out on a somber note last week when Chris Ritter announced his venue, the Lakeshore Theater, would be closing its doors this weekend with Australian comedian Jim Jefferies being the comedy club’s final act before the curtains go down indefinitely. The theater had been a staple for the local comedy scene, a venue that was able to draw the Mr. Show reunion performance last summer in addition to more scathing performances, like the recent ranting one from Jamie Kilstein. While anyone in town with even a passing interest in comedy or stand-up knows about the Lakeshore, the theater was awfully barebones in its farewell announcement. To get a better understanding of why the theater is closing after seven years of operation, The A.V. Club called owner Chris Ritter.

The A.V. Club: So, what’s going on over there?

Chris Ritter: We’re shuttin’ her down. It’s a very difficult time, emotionally, for everybody. I keep drawing the analogy of putting down a family pet. There’s not a lot of options or question about what needs to be done.

AVC: When did you see the writing on the wall?

CR: Probably a year ago. [Laughs.] It’s been a constant struggle since the day we opened. I mean, one key error that I would look back on in response to the, “What went wrong, what would you do differently?” question, is two-fold, all having to do with start-up capitalization. We didn’t put enough money into the plant to begin with, to open. We didn’t raise enough money to operate with, moving forward, and I underestimated the length of time it would take for the brand to sink in and catch hold with the market.

AVC: Well, you know what they say about hindsight.

CR: Yeah, we’ve been hand-to-mouth, paycheck-to-paycheck from the very beginning, and, as with any business, we incurred some very significant losses the first couple of years of operation. In fact, we posted our first profit in 2009. The bottom line is when we started doing comedy in 2007, we lost a little over $400,000. In 2008, we lost $260,000 and in 2009 we made a $65,000 profit. Now that’s a tremendous increase in revenue, a tremendous increase in the quality of the business. I don’t look at it as anything besides a huge success. But we are strangled by the debt that was incurred during the first two years of operation, and $65,000 is not the kind of profit that gets investors all excited.

Yes, we made a $300,000 turn around in operations from 2008 to 2009, yes we anticipate that that growth could continue if the business were able to continue, but the level of revenue that we’re doing today, although better than it’s ever been, is simply not enough to both cover operations, finance the debt from the previous year’s losses, and to put into a plant of theater improvements that we need.

The place has a lot of physical challenges. We need new bathrooms, we need better traffic flow in the lobby, we need to replace a few dozen seats, we need to replace some electrical wiring, and there’s just no money for that because our revenue is sufficient to cover payroll, artist’s fees, advertising, all the things that the business requires to operate, but I don’t have any money for the infrastructure stuff, and as a result of that, it makes the fight for the bottom line that much more difficult. The struggle of just trying to keep it going with no money in the bank costs us money. You know, having to rob Peter to pay Paul—there’s a personal side to it, too. I barely pulled $28,000 in income here last year, and so for somebody with my skill set, at the professional level that I’m at, you know I really have to ask myself at 42-years-old what am I doing. [Laughs.] ‘Cause I can go out and get a job! And I’ve got a family to look after.

AVC: So what are you going to be doing next, then?

CR: I’m 100 percent confident I’m going to stay in entertainment. That’s who I am and what I do.

AVC: Will you stay in Chicago?

CR: Ideally. I would love to stay in Chicago, I love Chicago, been here 20 years and don’t have any interest in moving anywhere unless it was because someone really, really wanted me there. [Laughs.] Honestly, I need to shut the Lakeshore down first and bring this chapter to a close, but I’ve always landed on my feet and have all the optimism and confidence in the world that the next chapter in my life is just going to be awesome. I just have to get through this closure.

AVC: What’s going to happen to the space itself?

CR: Well, one of the challenges of the space and one of the reasons it’s not a particularly attractive investment for capital investment folk is I don’t own the building, we just have a lease on the room. So I pay rent to the same guy that Chipotle pays rent to and that the Brendan’s Pub pays rent to and the shoe shop pays rent to. So we are vacating our somewhat sizable apartment and it will be up to the owner of the building to see if he can locate a new tenant to come in and rent the space and take another run at it.

AVC: Were there any other shows coming up that you were looking forward to that you’re especially disappointed won’t be happening?

CR: Oh gosh—all of them. I’m just looking at the calendar that’s left on my wall right now: Patrice O’Neal I’ve been dying to have here since we opened and that was going to be his first play. Maria Bamford is one of my favorites in the entire world who I just think is so special, as is Kristen Schaal, as is Brendon Burns, and it’s just all of them, because so many of these people aren’t getting booked anywhere else. [Phone rings.] Sorry. I’m a popular guy all of the sudden. Could have given me a call three months ago! [Laughs.] I don’t know. Although the fat lady is pretty considerably warmed up, she certainly hasn’t sung yet. There have been some expressions of interest from different parties potentially acquiring the Lakeshore Theater brand and keeping the place going, but those negotiations are just going to be happening this week and I don’t have any other comment at this time about it other than it’s a slim, slim, slim, slim, slim chance. But we’ll see.

AVC: Are there other people in the community you’re hoping will pick up the gauntlet that you guys are being forced to set down? 

CR: Well, I mean, there’s a lot of great alternative rooms I love: Chicago Underground, Beat Kitchen, and I’ve always loved what Mark [Geary] does with the Lincoln Lodge. I think we’ve established that there is a market for this and I would hope that in our folding that somebody will recognize that. [Laughs.] And that’s part of what’s so heartbreaking about it is because I feel like the business is right at that point of turning the corner into profitability. For all intents and purposes, it is working, it was just never set up right from the start. It’s all money issues. I’ve never been a great facility guy. I’m a showman, I’m a promoter, producer, artist now, that’s what I do and that’s what our greatest success has been here.

AVC: How would you like the Lakeshore to be best remembered after Saturday?

CR: Just as a very unique place that went a long way to establishing comedy as a legitimate art form and means of individual expression in its own right, and not just a commoditized product, an excuse to sell chicken wings and watered-down margaritas.

Artists, like Kris Schaal, Brandon Burr, Glenn Wool, all these guys that just don’t have anywhere else to go in Chicago, because they don’t fit the club mold, they don’t fit the Comedy Central set-up, punchline, set-up, punchline thing—I think there are some great comedy clubs across the country, but as an industry the comedy clubs have tried to destroy comedy as an art form as they pulled everybody to control their acts so they could get better comment cards, you know, hopefully get these guys sitcoms. The real great work isn’t happening in the clubs, it’s happening in places like Chicago Underground or Beat Kitchen or Lincoln Lodge. We just tried to shine a spotlight on that kind of work and bring it to a higher profile, and the outpouring of affection over the past few days has been pretty bittersweet. It’s sad to let the place go, but this announcement has brought out a tremendous expression from people that leads me to realize at least how much we succeeded in what we were trying to do.