Onward and Upward | Former dropout founds theatre

Michael Menendian is not a typical Tufts alum. Although he was a student on the Medford campus from 1971 to 1973, he never graduated. Over cell phone static on a Boston-to-Chicago phone interview, he called himself a "classic college dropout" with a hearty chuckle.

Now a 51-year-old husband and father, Menendian is the proud founder of Raven Theatre in Chicago. "I started my own theater company in 1983," he said. "I do design and production primarily, occasionally perform and co-write the children's programs. And I'm the executive producer. These are fancy titles, but I mostly just run the theater."

So, how did he get from college dropout to theater entrepreneur?

"My first theater experience, except for some small role in a church play, was in high school," Menendian said.

The school Menendian refers to is the Palfrey High School in a suburb of Boston, where he grew up. "By senior year, I was playing in major roles," he said. "But even then, I didn't take it seriously as a career pursuit."

When he arrived at Tufts in the fall of 1971, Menedian continued to study theatrical performance. "When I was at Tufts, I did theater as a student in the liberal arts program," he said. "As a freshman or sophomore, I took an enormous class on theater and movement. It had three professors, but I don't remember their names because it was 30 years ago. Even at that time, I had no intention of being a theater professional."

It wasn't until Menendian left Tufts in 1973, and the principal of his old high school invited him to be the director of the drama program, that he began to consider theater as a potential occupation.

"I stayed [at Palfrey] for a semester, went to France for almost a year, and then went back to Palfrey," he said. "It was around that time that I began to pursue theater as a career. From 1975 to 1978, I was studying and performing in Boston in various classes and productions."

Menendian realized his love of directing through his job at his old high school, and continued to pursue theater even when he moved from Boston to Chicago in 1979. "I thought that Boston had its limitations as far as theater went," he said. "I had come to Chicago to visit a friend, and I was really surprised to see how much theater there was here. There were more opportunities there to pursue it."

"I started to do improv comedy, to study in some other theaters, got some work in directing, I did some workshops," he said. "And then from there, I directed a little bit in other theaters."

Among those other theaters was the New Haven Playhouse, which disbanded after some early success. Afterwards, Menendian and a small group of artists created the Raven Theatre Company. "It was formed as a temporary idea, just as something to allow us to continue," he said.

They ran Raven rather successfully for 15 years (from 1985 to 2000), until its space was purchased by the city to build a public school. But three years ago, Raven was reborn: "We were able to purchase another space, and converted it into a two-theater complex," Menendian said.

"In the old space, we could sit about 70 people," he added. "Now we have a 160-seat theater and a 70-seat theater as well. We've expanded the programming. Our focus is in American theater, but we do children's programming as well, and experimental workshop productions."

And Raven's program has been successful, to say the least: the group just received five Jeff Award nominations. (The Jeff Awards, which reward the Chicago area's best professional theatre, are given each year by the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee.) Two of those are for Menendian himself: best production of a play and best set design.

As for memories of Tufts, Menendian has plenty, even though he was only on campus for two years. "I made fast friends with several people," he said. "We were crazy about our bikes, and we'd go into Boston at like midnight, and bike around Back Bay and all over. We wouldn't get back until sunrise. We'd just take over the city."

Menedian was unable to predict his future while at college. "I was sort of a lost soul in terms of my mind, and what I thought I wanted to do with my life," he said. "If somebody asked me back then if I had thought I'd be running my own theatre company in 30 years, I'd have said no way."

"Perhaps if I had known what I know now, I would have continued my education at Tufts, but with all the financial stressors on my family and myself, I didn't," he said as he ran out for a rehearsal. "I have no regrets though, because I pursued a career that didn't require me to absolutely have a degree."

"I'll make sure my daughter doesn't drop out, though," he said.