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If you really do break a leg…
there’s the The Biscotto-Miller Fund.

In the early ‘80s, Chicago’s theater community was deeply struck by the losses of actor J. Pat Miller and stage manager Tom Biscotto to AIDS. The very first outspoken AIDS victims in our community, their tragic deaths brought Chicago’s theater professionals together to stand up, speak out and fight back.

The Biscotto-Miller fund began with a small fundraising effort by J. Pat and Tommy’s theater friends—collecting from each other to build a cash fund that they distributed to others in need. Now, more than 30 years later, the Biscotto-Miller fund and the Malcolm Ewen emergency fund exists as the only private grants given directly by Season of Concern to local artists in need.

Even if you don’t break a leg…
there is the Malcolm Ewen Emergency Fund.

We are proud to provide an additional source of support for Chicago theater makers: The Malcolm Ewen Emergency Fund. Unlike the Season of Concern programs that focus on health-related issues, the Ewen Emergency Fund will provide short-term assistance for theater employees facing emergencies resulting in extraordinary financial issues. Emergencies are defined as fire, natural disaster, sudden loss of job, eviction, an abrupt change of circumstance that could be the loss of a roommate or family member, or other catastrophic occurrence causing great financial harm.

So the show can go on…

We can’t predict when the unexpected will happen. Sometimes that wish of good luck turns into a prophecy. But if you are a theater artist in the Chicagoland area, on stage or behind the scenes, and an emergency strikes, Season of Concern is here to help. We provide direct, short-term emergency financial assistance to Chicago-area actors, directors, designers, technicians, and playwrights through our Malcolm Ewen Emergency Fund.

Who can apply?

Season of Concern supports members of Actors Equity Association, as well as Non-Equity theater makers. If your name appears in a local theater program, you’re eligible to apply for short-term financial assistance. Eligible persons include:

  • actors
  • directors
  • stage managers
  • designers
  • theater technicians
  • cabaret artists
  • playwrights
  • front of house
  • box office
  • theatre musicians
  • crew members
  • improvisational performers

Please Note:

Funds will be paid directly to the organization/person to which the debt it owed, NOT to the applicant. Do you qualify? When in doubt, apply.

ABOUT

Tommy Biscotto and J. Pat Miller

Tommy Biscotto and J. Pat Miller, for whom the Biscotto-Miller Fund was named, both came to Chicago theater in the very early days of the Off-Loop movement, performing in Godzilla Rainbow Troupe’s gender-bending, genre-jumping 1971 production Whores of Babylon, which was presented as a midnight show at the Body Politic. Tommy was also stage manager for the show and was responsible for bringing director Eleven (a.k.a. Gary Tucker) to Chicago from New York where he had been associated with the Ridiculous Theatre Company.

From that time on, Tommy and J. Pat (Jimmy, to his friends) each worked in many Off-Loop companies, both were beloved figures in the Chicago theater scene. Biscotto was resident stage manager at Victory Gardens in that theater’s early years, before becoming stage manager for Goodman Theater’s Stage Two studio, where he was working when he was diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma in 1982.

He died in October 1984. Miller had just returned from a tour playing Lucky in Waiting for Godot when he was diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia and died six months after Biscotto’s death. Incidentally the production of Godot had been directed by Rick Cluchey with additional directing by Samuel Becket in rehearsals in Paris. Becket told J. Pat that his was the best performance of Lucky he had ever seen.

It was at the memorial service for Jimmy at Victory Gardens that the Biscotto-Miller Fund was spontaneously created:

“We have to take care of our own.”

ABOUT

Malcolm Ewen

A long-time Production Stage Manager at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and a decades-long member of the board of Season of Concern, Malcolm Ewen was a tireless advocate for the Chicago theater community, devoting himself to the development of resources that would ensure the health and well-being of union and non-union theater workers alike. Although his premature death in 2019 robbed the community of one of its most effective leaders, Malcolm’s generous spirit lives on in this Fund, established through his generous bequest to Season of Concern.

“As a family, we are truly honored that Malcolm will be recognized for his efforts to help others in the theatre community. He touched so many lives by his time, energy, and caring. We hope his legacy of leadership and generosity inspires others for many years to come.”

– The Ewen Family

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