Robert Sickinger

[2][3] He often cast non-professional actors in his productions, and in doing so occasionally found new talent such as David Mamet, Marilu Henner, Jim Jacobs, and Mike Nussbaum, all of whom were Sickinger proteges.

[1][4] Raised in Philadelphia, Sickinger was drafted into the United States Army whilst still at school, and served in the Philippines during the Second World War.

[1] Sickinger was able to convince a local movie theater owner to rent him space, and produced a number of plays in this venue during the early 1950s.

Sickinger chose to produce "challenging, sometimes distressing contemporary plays" on subjects that had never been seen on Chicago stages, mounting productions by Edward Albee, Harold Pinter, Athol Fugard, and Amiri Baraka.

[4] He was an accomplished fundraiser, promoting theater in unlikely venues such as breakfast clubs and organising performances in the homes of Chicago's wealthier citizens.