Theater Company Honors Flat Iron Building's 100th Birthday With '2-Night-Only' Shows

Wicker Park's historic Flat Iron Arts Building turns 100 this year and the milestone isn't going unnoticed, especially by one theater company that is housed within it.

The building at 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. is home to more than 30 artist studios, six small businesses, a Bank of America branch and Collaboraction Theatre Company.

The company is putting together a two-night-only performance event featuring 11 original short plays, each based on a specific decade of the Flat Iron's existence, according to a news release.

Entitled The Decades Project: Celebrating 100 Years of the Flat Iron Arts Building,  the event is scheduled for June 21 and 22 in Collaboraction's Room 300 Theater, the release said. 

"The Decades Project began with a Facebook post by Collaboraction artistic and executive director Anthony Moseley," it says, adding that he posted in March a historic photo of the Milwaukee, Damen and North intersection, which is where the building stands.

"The post received more than 80 comments, many of them from playwrights with whom Moseley had previously worked," the release said.

The result was a fully crowd-sourced idea for a showcase of new plays based on the building's decades.

Moseley has tasked 11 playwrights with the decades. Each will create an original script comprised of 10 minutes at the most, and all 11 will be performed, in order, on June 21 and 22.

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