Artistic Director of Theatre Building Chicago John Sparks To Make His Exit August 23 at the Conclusion of TBC’s STAGES Festival

Teacher, mentor, and beloved Artistic Director of Theatre Building Chicago, John Sparks will make his exit August 23rd at the conclusion of TBC’s STAGES festival of new musicals in progress.

Sparks has been with TBC since 1984 when his first show Babes in Barns was produced. Founding the New Tuners, now TBC’s Musical Theatre Writers Workshop in 1987, he became the Artistic Director of the organization in 2000.

“I’m very proud of what we have accomplished here at TBC and I hope it continues to prosper. We gave students creating musical theatre the opportunity to fail in safety, and this created many successes.”

Sparks proudly alludes to an impressive list of award winning alumni including: Mark Hollmann -Tony Award & Drama Desk Award, Urinetown.

Paul Libman and Dave Hudson – Richard Rodgers Award, Dust And Dreams: Celebrating Sandburg, Main Traveled Roads. Susan DiLallo – Richard Rodgers Award & Ed Kleban Award, Once Upon A Time In New Jersey, Jonathan Larson Award, Iron Curtain.

John’s departure comes in the wake of personnel changes at TBC.

“My decision to leave was not an easy one. I hope TBC and the workshop continues to prosper. I wasn’t happy with our board’s direction,” Sparks said. “I was very happy with the team we had.

TBC and the workshop had gotten to a good point, we all wanted to achieve similar goals. We differed on how and who would get us there.” Sparks states, “The challenge of an organization that has achieved a plateau like TBC is what does this mean for the artists? What is Next?”

What’s next for John Sparks is a very busy August.

He is preparing for this year’s STAGES festival. On the Brink with book and Lyrics by John, Music by Thomas Adams, (Adapted from the play On Borrowed Time by Paul Osborn and Lawrence Watkins) will have a studio presentation at the festival. It is directed by long time friend and colleague, Allan Chambers.

Chambers will take over as Artistic Director upon Spark’s departure at the end of August. This passing of the torch is one they have been working towards for some time. “This is a terrific opportunity for Allan, in many ways he has more experience, and I wish him well.”

Sparks will be directing Song Poems- The Musical at the festival.

John is no stranger to a busy schedule and travel. Having split his time and teaching between Los Angeles and Chicago.

“I’ve been bi-urban for a while, I’m looking forward to being in one city and working on other projects. I plan on maintaining close ties with friends and collaborators here and there may be opportunity for a continued relationship with TBC.”

John hopes to devote more time to his online endeavor writingmusicaltheatre.com and working on adaptations of An Ideal Husband, The Country Wife and Miss Julie as musicals for the stage.

John Sparks is an associate member of the Dramatists Guild, a member of BMI, serves on the Board of Directors for Mercury Musicals Development in London. He studied with Lehman Engel in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles for 11 years, earned his MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, studying with Ted Apstein and Michael Gordon, and he studied music privately with Dick Grove in Los Angeles.

His first work with Theatre Building Chicago was as composer and lyricist for the musical Babes in Barns, which ran for six months.

Other TBC assignments include the lyrics for the award winning holiday musical, Hans Brinker , and the book for The Arresting Dilemma of Mister K . Most recently, he was the co-book writer for The Smartest Man in the World, a musical about Albert Einstein, which was produced by the West Coast Jewish Theater in Los Angeles.

On the Brink and Song Poems-The Musical are a part of 6 new musicals and 2 panel discussions at TBC’s STAGES annual festival of new musicals in progress August 21-23.

TBC plans to announce who will take over the Musical Theatre Writers Workshop within the next few weeks.

Theatre Building Chicago is an incubator for developing theatre companies, new musicals and emerging theatre artists. TBC’s Musical Development Program offers an array of works in multiple stages of development and nurtures new works through its Musical Theatre Writers Workshop and through collaboration with theatre companies and artists across the country.

TBC series include; New Musicals for Kids and Monday Night Musicals – once a month concert readings.