Theatre Building on Belmont to become Stage 773

It’s been a tumultuous couple of months for local theaters: The Mercury Theatre on Southport went into foreclosure in March, the Lakeshore shut itself down in April, iO in Wrigleyville—and several other businesses on Clark—could be edged out by a proposed new hotel and strip mall, and yesterday it was announced that the Theatre Building on Belmont has been bought by new owners Stage 773. The theater will also change its name to Stage 773 as part of the deal. Even to the staunchest theater-avoiders, the Theatre Building should sound familiar, as the three-stage venue has been home to SketchFest for nine years. Fortunately, as Publicist Guy F. Wicke told The A.V. Club in an e-mail this morning, the changes will only be cosmetic: “[There will be] no change to booking procedures, or anything else in the near future.” Sure enough, SketchFest’s website proudly displays information about the festival taking place, per usual, in January at the same location.

In other displaced-theater news, Ald. Tom Tunney—who’s responsible for what the theater and other nearby businesses are calling the “Malling of Wrigleyville”—has suggested that the improv training center and theater move into the still-vacant Lakeshore. That seems pretty improbable, as the Lakeshore's single stage couldn’t possibly house all that, but the fracas has yielded this protest song from iO alumnus and Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Besser titled “Ann Sather’s Food Tastes Like Rat Poop” or "Big Corporate Mess.":