One of Chicago's most inclusive theater companies and long a friend of the GLBT community, Victory Gardens maintains a 12-member Playwrights Ensemble that is at the core of its artistic mission. At least three of the ensemble playwrights are gay or lesbian, among them Chicago authors Claudia Allen and Nicholas Patricca. Victory Gardens also has served as an artistic base for gay playwright Joel Drake Johnson, and was one of several organizations that assisted the career of the late Scott McPherson, author of Marvin's Room. VG held workshops of the play, and also employed McPherson as an actor.

VG has launched a five-year, $15 million capital campaign that will provide $9 million for the purchase and renovation of the Biograph, $5 million in operating cash and a $1 million endowment. Leadership gifts already announced total $6.5 million, led by pledges of $1.5 million each from the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. The City has pledged an additional $1 million to be paid in 2005. Other leadership gifts to date have been advanced by MidAmerica Bank, LaSalle Bank, Illinois Tool Works, the Kresge Foundation, the Sara Lee Foundation and the VG board. Naming rights for the new mainstage still are available for $1 million.

In addition to the 299-seat mainstage, the Biograph will be reconfigured to include a 128-seat studio theater, spacious lobbies and restrooms, a rehearsal hall, a catering kitchen and four dressing rooms equipped with showers. The stage will be much broader and deeper than the current VG home (just two blocks south of the Biograph, at 2257 N. Lincoln), with roomy wings and a fully trapped stage floor (meaning scenery and people can be raised and lowered through sections of the stage). The new facilities will allow VG to produce a much wider range of material than at present, shows with larger casts or greater visual demands, or both.

All the changes will be interior. Since the Biograph is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been landmarked by the City of Chicago, its two-story red brick and terra cotta facade, its old-fashioned marquee and outside ticket booth cannot be altered. When built in 1914, the Biograph was one of the largest and fanciest movie houses of the early silent film era. It entered history and lore in 1934 as the place where 'The Lady in Red' fingered Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger (he of the mythological member), who was ambushed and killed by FBI agents moments after leaving the theater

VG owns its old building down the street, and will continue to operate it. The three theaters there—two large and one small—will be leased to other Chicago theater troupes, much as they are now. Regular tenants over the last several years have included the Remy Bumppo, Irish Repertory and Shattered Globe theaters. About Face Theatre Company has used Victory Gardens, too, successfully premiering Pulp there last fall.

Victory Gardens continues under the leadership of long-time artistic director Dennis Zacek, longer-time managing director Marcelle McVay and Johnny-come-lately (2001) director of institutional advancement Robert Alpaugh.