“A vivid, clear-eyed portrait of the quintessential Chicago theater company under the direction of the brilliant Stuart Gordon—restless, inventive, and driven by risk. This book captures the work as it was actually made: collaborative, combustible, and impossible to ignore.”

Robert Falls, theater director and former artistic director of the Goodman Theatre

“A perfect snapshot of Chicago’s Organic Theater—certainly the most exciting time I’ve had over a lifetime in show business.”

Joe Mantegna, actor

“This candid, insightful insiders’ chronicle of the innovative practice and turbulent behind-the-scenes drama of the first great ensemble troupe of Chicago’s ‘Off-Loop’ theater explosion of the 1970s and ’80s is an essential addition to the American theater history bookshelf.”

Albert Williams, theater critic for the Chicago Reader

“To understand contemporary American theater, you have to know about theater in Chicago. To understand theater in Chicago—this is no exaggeration—you have to know about the catalyst: the epic, epoch-making, often apocalyptic, and only semi-apocryphal Organic Theater Company. Here, at last, is the story of how it achieved greatness, repeatedly, on a dare and a dollar-ninety-eight budget.”

Stuart Klawans, author of Crooked, but Never Common: The Films of Preston Sturges