There`s something about a steaming cup of coffee that stimulates the mind. Throughout the ages, the mix of strong coffee and potent ideas has produced a heady, oftentimes controversial, brew. In 1675, Charles II of England tried to outlaw coffeehouses, then the gathering place of the local intelligentsia, suggesting they were centers of seditious opinion. During the 1950s and `60s, beatniks, hippies and other bohemian types made the neighborhood coffeehouse their favorite haunt.
”Coffeehouses have fomented more revolutions than any other single institution,” says Tom Handley, who along with five other partners runs Scenes, a coffeehouse and dramatist bookstore that opened last winter on Clark Street.
Scenes hopes to continue the grand tradition of literary dissent and philosophical exchange but with an emphasis on theater. Playreadings, usually held every other week, provide a showcase for fledgling actors, playwrights and directors to experiment in a supportive atmosphere.
While the coffeehouse has garnered most of the attention, Scenes the bookstore carries some 2,000 volumes of theatrical-related books and magazines. ”The bookstore itself is slowly but surely becoming a real bookstore,” Handley says. Book sales in recent weeks have picked up considerably.
Handley says he is inching closer to his goal of stocking 6,000 titles. Expanding the business section is a big priority, as is building a solid fund- raising library. ”And we`re constantly looking for new plays and playwrights,” he says. Currently, Scenes receives one or two manuscripts per week, but ”we`d love to pick that pace up.”
At Scenes, friends–and strangers–can mix comfortably, sip a cup of frothy cappuccino and engage in animated conversation. ”You just get up on your soapbox and talk,” says Handley. ”Caffeine is a wonderful drug.”
The place: Scenes, 3168 N. Clark St.; 525-1007.
Hours: 7:30 a.m.-midnight Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday.
Stock: 2,000 titles including scripts and books on acting, directing, criticism, set design.
Special services: Playreadings.
Type of crowd: ”A lot of film and theater people, but we really are a neighborhood joint.”
Purpose: ”To provide a place where the theater community can meet under more relaxed circumstances. We`re here because there`s more to theater than the script.”
Owners` philosophy: ”A place to exchange ideas in an open format where there is no right or wrong. There is no peer pressure to be a certain way or say certain things.”
Upcoming events: At 8:30 p.m. June 27, Jeff Halgerson will be reading his trilogy of plays: ”In His Own Image,” ”Sins from the Father,” ”Fall from Grace.”
Source: Tom Handley, co-owner.
