Piccolo Theatre, Inc. produced the multiple-award-winning Custer Street Fair in 1972. This event, also known as Custer’s Last Stand or The Custer Fair, was first established by a group of local artisans and retailers on Custer Ave and Washington St. In 1985, the loosely formed organization that ran the Custer Street Fair evolved into Evanston Festival Theatre, Inc., a nonprofit corporation later renamed Piccolo Theatre, Inc.
It acquired the Main Street Metra Depot in Evanston through a long-term lease with The Union Pacific Railroad, built in 1909 and virtually abandoned after a fire badly damaged it in 1982. On the brink of demolition, Piccolo Theatre, Inc., led by John Szostek, spearheaded a campaign to restore the magnificent structure to its original architectural eloquence in cooperation with the local community, Metra, The Union Pacific Railroad, the City of Evanston, the Evanston Community Foundation, and federal and state governments.
The ecological transportation-oriented development project was a large-scale restoration completed at a cost of $4.5 million. To enhance its renewed function as a cultural center, a 50-seat theater, studio/classroom space, and set construction area replaced the old baggage room, coal room, and fire-damaged upper room.
The restoration was completed in 2005. The Piccolo Theatre, Custer Street Fair, and a neighborhood commuter-friendly coffee shop are now headquartered there. The fair has grown tenfold and now attracts approximately 80,000 people each year. It features approximately 360 arts and craft exhibitors, 30 restaurants, and three stages for musical and theatrical performances.
Piccolo Theatre was a professional ensemble company committed to presenting contemporary and classic works, including plays by authors such as Molière, Goldoni, Tom Stoppard, and Dario Fo, and developing original Piccolo plays and adaptations. Their goal was to bring to these works the energy of physical theatre, connecting the text of the work to the physical vitality of live theatre. Piccolo Theatre also aimed to preserve traditional popular theatre forms and techniques, such as Commedia dell’ Arte, vaudeville, music hall, and the circus through research, education, and presentation.
The company consisted of 20 members. In addition to their season’s performance in the Theatre, they performed their outdoor commedia dell’ Arte sketches and Variety Shows every year during The Custer Fair for area colleges and universities and at resorts in Charlevoix, Michigan. In 2003, the international theatre community honored Piccolo Theatre by inviting it to participate in Playing French, the first-ever International Contemporary French Theater Festival in Chicago. The Italian consulate of Chicago also pledged its support for future Italian-based productions.
Piccolo Theatre School was a training center for professional actors that offered several courses, including Psychocalisthenics® (breathing exercises), dance, deep tissue massage bodywork, courses in Commedia dell’ Arte, stage movement, an actor’s boot camp with a focus on endurance, and T’ai Chi Chuan. The school expanded its offerings to include children’s and adult classes in physical theatre training, masks, puppetry, and mime.
A short time after John Szostek retired, Piccolo Theatre ceased operations. Some years later, the nonprofit Piccolo Theatre, Inc. stopped producing the Custer Fair and ceased all operations.