Joliet residents urge more diversity in Rialto Square Theatre shows

JOLIET – Garland Mays this week added his voice to a chorus of people who have been calling for more diversity in the shows at the Rialto Square Theatre.

Mays told the City Council on Monday that both Rialto management and downtown event planners need to appeal to a broader audience.

"The Rialto and downtown has to be more diverse," said Mays, who is president of the Forest Park Neighborhood Council. "Although we've had some very nice events down there, I don't think it's catered to everybody in Joliet. I don't think it's catered to the African-American population. I don't think it's catered to the Latino population."

While Mays’ comments included downtown event planning, his remarks about the Rialto echoed a refrain heard from a number of people, including a City Council member, at recent council meetings where theater operations have been under review.

The Rialto is going through a management change – if not an upheaval – amid financial problems and other issues that have plagued the theater for more than a year. Former General Manager Randy Green, who ran the Rialto since 2000, is gone, and the theater is seeking a new general manager.

Councilwoman Jan Quillman told Mays she thinks things will change.

“I do believe under new management – when the new management comes in – it will be much more diverse,” she said.

Interim General Manager Jack Ericksen could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Councilwoman Bettye Gavin said Ericksen appeared to want to make amends for an incident she brought up at a recent council meeting. Gavin had said she had heard from a former Joliet resident and Grammy nominee who was interested in performing at the Rialto that the artist could not get a call back from the theater. Ericksen talked to her after that meeting, Gavin said.

“Jack was very interested in getting the contact information,” Gavin said. “He was receptive.”

Gavin is black, as is the gospel singer she mentioned – Ann Nesby, a former lead singer for Sounds of Blackness who was nominated for a Grammy award in 2008.

Minorities have not been the only ones calling for a bigger variety of shows at the Rialto.

Tyler Kelly, a Rialto stagehand who formed a committee aimed at motivating more youth involvement in the theater, said he was basically "laughed at" when he presented ideas at a meeting that included Green.

“It was met with nothing but apathy,” Kelly told the City Council at a special meeting March 28 on the Rialto.

Mays said after the meeting Monday that he believes the success of the Rialto and the downtown area depends on appealing to more segments of the city.

“In order for downtown Joliet to be successful, it has to bring in more cultures,” he said. “The Rialto has not done that.”