By Mike Nussbaum

"For many years I worked happily in Chicago community theatres playing major roles in important plays, both classic and avant-garde. In 1967 Bernie Sahlins, Sheldon Patinkin and Paul Sills invited me to join a new company they were forming called 2nd City Rep. It was an opportunity not to be missed. The first play of the first (and last) season, Norman Mailer's DEERE PARK, was a dismal failure, enlivened only by the pickets outside who were protesting the play's racism and misogyny. The set design had a fatal flaw: hanging on the back wall center stage was a large electric sign with the number of scenes in reverse order, changing from 20 to 19 to 18 and so on as the play progressed (regressed?) The bored and restive audience seized on the dwindling numbers with a greater interest than the action onstage. Their palpable relief as we hit zero was a kind of marvelous, if negative, demonstration of audience participation. The company folded soon after... but I finally had my Equity card."

MIKE NUSSBAUM has appeared in most of the Chicago theaters in a career which began in the fifties. He appeared in the original productions of many of David Mamet's plays in Chicago, New York, on and off-Broadway, including a memorable visit to the Dublin Theater Festival with the Steppenwolf production of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, in which he played Shelley Levine, a role he had been hoping for since he played Aaronow in the original. A major highlight of his career was the Peter Brook production of THE CHERRY ORCHARD at BAM, which later toured the Soviet Union and Tokyo. He has been honored by the Joseph Jefferson committee with awards for acting and directing as well as a lifetime achievement award last year. Other honors include the Illinois Arts Alliance Legend Award, the American Jewish Committee Award for Cultural Achievement (shared with his daughter Susan), the University Club of Chicago and DePaul University Award for Excellence in the Arts.