An accomplished visual artist, Rinnert eventually became art director at\u00a0In These Times\u00a0and worked there for some 30 years,\u00a0frequently contributing articles<\/a>\u00a0as well. During Rinnert\u2019s tenure at\u00a0ITT, the magazine published articles by such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Noam Chomsky, David Moberg, Salim Muwakkil, Joan Walsh, Laura Washington, Alexander Cockburn, Garrison Keillor and Rinnert himself.<\/p>\n Rinnert was long involved in Chicago\u2019s grassroots theater scene beginning in the early \u201870s. As a student at Eastern Illinois University he had been active in the school\u2019s theater program, and when his classmate\u00a0J. Pat Miller, whom he later called \u201cmy closest friend since early days at college,\u201d embarked on an acting career in Chicago, Rinnert was drawn into the \u201cOff-Loop Theater\u201d scene that was just beginning to flourish in the Windy City.<\/p>\n Through Miller, Rinnert met his lover of 12 years,\u00a0Tommy Biscotto, who went on to a career as a stage manager at the Organic and Goodman theaters. Rinnert and Biscotto also helped establish an artists\u2019 colony on Chicago\u2019s Near West Side when they settled into a house at\u00a01120 W. Fry St<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1979-1980, Rinnert collaborated with Miller and Biscotto on a highly acclaimed multimedia theatrical work,\u00a0The Artaud Project, which played at Victory Gardens Theatre in its original space in the Northside Auditorium Building, now home to the Metro rock club. With a text by Rinnert based on the writings of avant-garde\u00a0theatre and cinema artist Antonin Artaud, the innovative show combined live performance with video. Miller starred as Artaud under the direction of Rinnert and Victory Gardens\u2019 artistic director Dennis Zacek, who also appeared in the production\u2019s video sequences; Biscotto was the stage manager.\u00a0The Artaud Project\u00a0won a special Joseph Jefferson (\u201cJeff\u201d) Award, Chicago theater\u2019s top prize, in 1980, and Miller was also nominated for a Jeff Award for his mesmerizing performance.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing sound effects, lighting shifts, and an interplay between the live portrayal of Artaud by actor J. Pat Miller and taped scenes shown on four television sets, the 75-minute, intermission-less work puts the performer and the audience through the wringer,\u201d wrote\u00a0Chicago Tribune\u00a0theatre critic Richard Christiansen in his review of the innovative show. \u201cThe project, shepherded into life over the last few years by director Jim Rinnert, is a complex, . . . compulsively watchable work that offers interested theater audiences the opportunity to experience a genuinely experimental piece.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1982, Tommy Biscotto was diagnosed with Kaposi\u2019s sarcoma, a rare cancer associated with a mysterious new health crisis facing the gay community. At the time of Biscotto\u2019s diagnosis, the term AIDS\u2014Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome\u2014had not yet been designated by federal health officials. \u201cTommy was one of the earlier diagnoses with AIDS\u2014though it wasn\u2019t called AIDS yet,\u201d Rinnert later recalled. \u201cIt was still a mystery disease and over the following months a lot of potential cures were tried out on him and each failed. Through that time, Tommy was a spokesman for those who had this illness, especially when it was designated a gay disease, advocating for care and research.\u201d<\/p>\n Biscotto passed away in October 1984 with Rinnert at his bedside. The following April, after J. Pat Miller also died of AIDS-related illness, Rinnert helped create the\u00a0Biscotto-Miller Fund<\/a>\u00a0to provide financial support to members of the Chicago theater community affected by AIDS.<\/p>\n \u201cThe criterion was that people with AIDS who had any theater connection could apply for a grant,\u201d Rinnert recalled in Mark Larson\u2019s 2019 book\u00a0Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater. \u201cWe set a limit at $500 a month. \u2026 There were no stipulations on what that money was for. We knew we couldn\u2019t cover medical expenses or major expenses for them, but we wanted to cover things that they felt they needed in their lives. A trip home or a TV. Whatever they needed.\u201d<\/p>\n Rinnert was part of the committee that organized and produced\u00a0Arts Against AIDS<\/a>, a benefit variety show held May 13, 1985, at Chicago\u2019s Second City comedy theater that raised some $10,000 for the Biscotto-Miller Fund.<\/p>\n In 1987, Rinnert was instrumental in the establishment of the nonprofit organization\u00a0Season of Concern Chicago<\/a>, which took over management of the Biscotto-Miller Fund. Originally formed to assist people with AIDS-related illnesses, SOC today provides financial assistance to Chicagoland theater practitioners\u00a0impacted by illness, injury, or circumstance that prevents them from working.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my proudest moments, years later, when a diagnosis of AIDS was no longer a certain death sentence, was when Season of Concern expanded the Fund\u2019s mission . . .\u00a0to encompass broader health and emergency needs within the community,\u201d Rinnert recalled in comments prepared for a Season of Concern event held on June 3, 2025, to celebrate the\u00a040th\u00a0anniversary of the Biscotto-Miller Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJim Rinnert played a seminal role in shaping the theater community\u2019s response to the AIDS epidemic,\u201d said\u00a0Marcie McVay, former managing director of Victory Gardens Theater and former head of the Theatre Management program at the Theatre School of DePaul University. \u201cWhen the Biscotto-Miller Fund was formed in April of 1985 to help those in the theater community who were suffering from AIDS, Jim was named its first president. Shortly after Season of Concern was founded in 1987, Jim joined the SOC board of directors and later served as its president. When the mission of Season of Concern was expanded to serve anyone in the theater community suffering from debilitating illness, Jim was the president of the organization. Jim had a lifelong commitment to the well-being of the theater community. He will be greatly missed.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time of his death, Rinnert was working on a book project\u2014a history of the Organic Theater, one of the cutting-edge ensembles that launched the Chicago Off-Loop theater movement of which Rinnert was an instrumental part.<\/p>\n \u201cWe agreed to call our forthcoming book on the history of the Organic Theater\u00a0Scream, Bleed, Take Off Your Clothes: Stuart Gordon and Chicago\u2019s Organic Theater Company,\u201d said the book\u2019s coauthor, actor Cordis Heard. \u201cWith Jim\u2019s editing and writing skills, his smarts and sense of humor guiding us to the finish line, we\u2019ll see the book in print from the University of Chicago Press within the next year. We couldn\u2019t have done it without him. It was a perfect joy with him.\u201d<\/p>\n Actor Michael Saad, another coauthor of the book, added, \u201cIt was an honor to work with Jim. He was ridiculously integral to the fruition of the book. He made everything flow and added so much. Working with him was like being back at the Organic in the \u201970s. What a wonderful feeling that was. I will miss his easy manner and insight.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to his husband Brent Fisher,\u00a0Jim Rinnert is survived by his brother,\u00a0Max Rinnert, and nephews\u00a0Randall Newsome\u00a0and\u00a0Chris Newsome.<\/p>\n Donations in Jim Rinnert\u2019s memory may be made to Season of Concern for the Biscotto-Miller Fund<\/a>\u00a0c\/o Season of Concern Chicago,\u00a08 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL 60603<\/a>; email\u00a0info@seasonofconcern.org<\/a>;\u00a0https:\/\/seasonofconcern.org\/donate\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Albert Williams Jim Rinnert\u2014a writer, artist, philanthropist, AIDS activist, and longtime art director of\u00a0In These Times\u00a0magazine, active…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,58505,593,58506],"class_list":{"0":"post-86888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-jim-rinnert","12":"tag-obituaries","13":"tag-passaages"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114904592815763873","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Jim-Rinnert-1-Photo-courtesy-Brent-Fisher.jpg\")
Jim Rinnert. Photo courtesy Brent Fisher<\/p>\n