CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Drive by the Den Theatre in Wicker Park, and you might miss it.
"I had been watching this space for awhile," said Ryan Martin, founder and CEO of The Den Theatre. "It was vacant for a long time."
A former actor, Martin decided to start up his own theater company, and, in 2010, he rented a 4,500 square foot space upstairs at 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave.
“By 2009, I was fed up with being an actor and only getting these tiny parts. I wanted to do this myself. I wanted to get a 'black box' and develop my own space,” Martin recalled. “When I first rented this, there was just this old wooden staircase that led to the only space at the time," he pointed upstairs.
"This is where it all began. This is where I produced and presented my first play," he smiled.
Walk inside the now 30,000 square foot space and you can feel the building's history. It was built in the late 1890's and was a former Woolworth's Department Store.
"When we started the renovation and tear down, we took down some of the walls and you could see the area where they used to make the milkshakes, because they had a little bar,” Martin said.
“This is the original tin from the 1890's, and, when we pulled it off, we salvaged as much as we can and it's become part of our logo. Our lobby shows off some of the original architecture. It has a cool history."
It's now a three-story, five stage space for music, theater and comedy.
"The ceilings were originally dropped by six feet, the floors were white. It used to be a kids clothing store. We put in spiral ductwork. The structural columns in the main stage are the originals," he said.
Martin built the theater's main stage in 2014 and expanded and bought the building.
Fast forward to 2020, Martin said he wasn't sure they'd survive the pandemic when they were forced to shut down for nearly 2 years.
"Looking back, we weren't sure if people were going to come back. We asked ourselves, ‘Should we reopen? Can we survive? Will we be able to sustain this?’ We started making plans to adjust our storefront windows, ‘what do we need to change to get people back?’ We just had so much build up with the comedy before COVID, so we wanted to ride that momentum,” recalled Martin.
Martin said now in their 14th year, the Den has become a hot spot for Comedy.
"It just started snowballing. Comedian Cameron Esposito rented a residency in our smaller theaters. That's what gave me the initial idea. I watched two weeks worth of shows sell out in two days. I thought theater doesn't do this. I saw two shows on top of each other. It all gave me this great idea to focus on comedy," Martin said.
David Letterman filmed his Netflix special at the Den in December. John Mulaney, Adam Corolla and Janeane Garofalo are just some of the big names who will take the stage this year.
"The Comedy is the driving force right now. That world is kinda hot right now in and of itself," said Martin.
The Den also is home to resident theatre companies.
"Theater is lagging a bit, but it's getting there. It just needs that infusion of new, young, passionate people. We are a place that can help that. We rent out space. We've become an incubator for some shows. We work with the Imposters, which do amazing work and we want more like that," he smiled.
"The passion is what is going to bring people and keep people here."
For more information and the show lineup, log onto thedentheatre.com.
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