John Morris, the visionary architect who transformed Chicago's theater landscape by designing iconic performance venues including the Steppenwolf Theatre's mainstage, the Lookingglass Theatre, and dozens of other beloved cultural spaces, died at age 77 on August 23 from complications related to pancreatic cancer at his home. Morris, who had been a resident of Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood for 46 years, brought an extraordinary combination of stagecraft expertise and audience-focused design sensibility to his distinguished career as the city's premier theater architect.

"John could just walk into a space and know exactly whether it worked or not – where the stage would be and where the dressing room block would be, and how you wanted to get into the space," said Patrick Danaher, a longtime managing architect at Morris Architects Planners. "We'd go back to the office, he'd do a quick sketch and we'd lay it out and get it to work, and then on my own, I'd go test it to see if it could be done a different way. And every time I had it tested, he always had it nailed from the get-go."

Born in Detroit in 1948, Morris grew up in Midland, Michigan, where he graduated from Midland High School before earning a bachelor's degree in political science from Oakland University outside Detroit. Rather than pursuing a traditional path in politics, Morris discovered his passion for theater through hands-on work behind the scenes on numerous productions in Detroit, New York City, and Chicago. As a self-taught craftsman, he worked on theater sets as a carpenter, stage electrician, and scenic artist at the Meadow Brook Theater in Rochester, Michigan, immediately after graduating from college.

In 1974, Morris relocated to Chicago, where he continued developing his theatrical skills and opened his own Chicago scenery shop, performing work for off-Loop theaters and even taking on drywall and remodeling projects during slower periods. Between 1970 and 1980, he worked on more than 200 different productions, immersing himself in every aspect of theater creation. "He loved the visual aspects of the theater and enjoyed the hands-on nature of the work and the creativity and artistry involved," said his daughter, Sarah Morris.

Morris's transition from theater craftsman to architect began in the mid-1970s when he was helping design a production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in the auditorium at Navy Pier's east end, which was completed as a bicentennial project in 1976. Jerry Butler, who served as chief city architect at that time, was overseeing the pier's renovation when Morris became involved in developing an elaborate lighting grid for the play. "Butler and the other city architects were concerned about how it fit into the whole scheme of things. It was exciting. I loved the technology of architecture, and working with these people, and that's when I made my decision," Morris told the Tribune's architecture critic Paul Gapp in 1989.

Determined to formalize his architectural knowledge, Morris enrolled in the University of Illinois at Chicago's intensive three-year program designed for college graduates seeking careers in architecture. After graduating in 1983, Morris encountered Bernie Sahlins, co-founder of the Second City improv troupe, who directed him to his own architect, George Veronda, to inquire about job opportunities. Veronda hired Morris immediately, but soon after, Veronda died of lung cancer, leading Morris to eventually partner with two other architects, William James and Leonard Kutyla, in the firm James, Morris & Kutyla.

While the firm primarily focused on theater architecture, the partners designed diverse structures including a steel plant, a hotel, shared-time hunting lodges in Montana, and numerous residential projects. However, it was in Chicago that Morris truly established himself as the go-to architect for theater design, creating spaces that prioritized the intimate connection between performers and audiences.

Morris's most celebrated achievement came with his design of the Steppenwolf Theatre's complex on North Halsted Street in Lincoln Park, completed in 1991. The building featured a 515-seat main theater, a former 299-seat upstairs theater, and a smaller flexible theatre seating 80 people. "None of the seats is more than 38 feet from the stage," wrote the Tribune's Sid Smith upon the new Steppenwolf space's opening in 1991. A subsequent expansion of the theater's campus, led by the Chicago architectural firm of Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill and completed in 2021, removed the Upstairs Theatre but left the Downstairs Theatre untouched as a testament to Morris's enduring design.

Morris also designed several other notable venues during his partnership years, including the Organic Theatre's 90-seat space in Lakeview, a 90-seat venue for the Live Bait Theatre in Wrigleyville, and the Willow Street Carnival, a three-story complex at 1800 N. Clybourn Avenue. These projects established his reputation for creating intimate, acoustically superior spaces that enhanced the theatrical experience.

In 1992, Morris struck out on his own, forming Morris Architects Planners and taking on increasingly ambitious projects. In 1996, he designed a new 350-seat theater for the Northlight Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, ingeniously creating a space that could double as a banquet facility. He also designed the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in downtown Arlington Heights, which opened in 2000.

One of Morris's signature projects emerged in the early 2000s when he designed the Lookingglass Theatre's new space inside the landmark Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station. Morris told the Tribune's Richard Christiansen in 2000 that the theater space would be divided into a flexible 225-seat main-stage auditorium and an 80-seat studio. The challenging project required "some very heroic acoustical measures to shield the theater from street noise, as well as from the hum of the adjoining and still operational pumping station on the west side of the building." The innovative space opened in 2003.

"What he did as an architect is he made a space for us in that castle on Michigan Avenue that's completely flexible that we could configure that made the best experience for an audience so everything is changeable," said David Catlin, a Lookingglass founding ensemble member and former artistic director. "It's been 22 years making original theater in there, and original theater that audiences seem to love. We got a Tony Award because of that, and he and his team, including Melissa Neel, really made this theatrical home for us that was incredibly intimate."

Morris's prolific career continued with numerous other significant projects throughout Chicago and beyond. He designed the Noble Fool comedy company's space on Randolph Street in the Loop theater district and redesigned a former grocery space at 6157 N. Clark Street in the Edgewater neighborhood for the off-Loop Raven Theatre Company. He also created a 420-seat proscenium-style theater for the Beverly Arts Center in Beverly and designed a pair of spaces for Prop Thtr at 3502 N. Elston Avenue.

In 1998, Morris converted the old Hild Regional Library into a performance space for the Old Town School of Folk Music and redesigned Chicago's Athenaeum theater on North Southport Avenue in Lakeview. Later, he designed the theater spaces at the Black Ensemble Theater Company's $19 million North Side complex at 4440 N. Clark Street that opened in 2011. Black Ensemble Theater founder and artistic director Jackie Taylor called Morris "a highly intelligent architect and just a wonderful human being and so prolific in his work. He was a joy to work with."

Taylor revealed that the Black Ensemble Theater recently began work on building another structure designed by Morris, noting sadly, "the thing about it is, I'm sad that he's not able to see it completed." Morris also designed the Stage 773 space that opened in 2011 in the three-theater, former Theatre Building at 1225 W. Belmont Avenue in Lakeview, though Stage 773 ceased operations recently and the structure is now targeted to be replaced by a five-story apartment building.

Morris's later career included designing the Windy City Playhouse theater at 3014 W. Irving Park Road in Albany Park, which opened in 2015, and the University of Chicago's Green Line Performing Arts Center in Washington Park, completed three years later. He also oversaw the design of the American Blues Theater's first permanent home at 5627 N. Lincoln Avenue in West Ridge, which opened in late 2023, demonstrating his continued dedication to Chicago's theater community until the end of his career.

Educational institutions also benefited from Morris's expertise, as he designed several theaters for schools including the Francis W. Parker School auditorium in 2009 and the North Shore Country Day School's auditorium in 2014. Outside Chicago, one of Morris's major projects was designing the Playhouse on the Square regional theatre company's theater in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2010, showing his influence extended beyond his home city.

"Across all Morris's work," Danaher explained, "Morris was very keen on providing an intimate audience-to-actor relationship for the communication between what the company is performing to connect with the audiences. That clearly shows up in the Steppenwolf Theatre, where there's a lot of people there, but the distance from stage to back row is tight, and it's just a great performance space. He really cared about creating spaces for theater."

Melissa Neel, who worked for Morris's firm in the 1990s and early 2000s, emphasized that Morris maintained "an abiding passion for theater. That came from his own theater work. He never stopped being excited about people telling stories." Remarkably, Morris never retired, continuing to work on theater projects until his illness prevented him from doing so.

Outside of his professional life, Morris enjoyed skiing, ice skating, bicycling, and hiking in the woods of northern Michigan. According to his daughter Sarah, Morris's greatest joy in recent years was playing with his young grandchildren, who lovingly called him "Popsicle." He also enjoyed baking for friends and family and was known for mixing a perfect Manhattan. "He loved all things winter and snow, and he could be spotted snowplowing his entire block after every Chicago snowstorm," Sarah Morris recalled.

Morris is survived by his wife, Claudia; two sons, Daniel and Peter; two brothers, Stephen and Michael; a sister, Margaret Smith; and three grandchildren. His family is planning to hold a celebration of life service in Chicago in the spring of 2026, providing an opportunity for the many theater professionals and community members whose lives he touched to honor his remarkable legacy in transforming Chicago's cultural landscape.