Northlight Theatre told the Tribune Tuesday that it plans finally to break ground on a new Evanston home in early March. The new theater building, which is projected to cost around $32 million, is expected to be ready in time for the 2026-27 season. Construction is expected to be substantially complete by the summer of 2026.
Northlight says it has raised $26.2 million toward that cost and plans a continued public campaign this winter to secure the remaining $6 million. Either way, enough money has been raised for construction to get underway.
Northlight Theatre has long been in residence at the North Shore Center for the Arts in Skokie, although the bulk of its audience subscriber base lives in and around Evanston. A campaign for the new building has been years in gestation, and has focused on several different Evanston addresses. In 2021, the theater finally purchased (and then razed) property at 1012 Church St. in the near northern suburb, next to the restaurant called The Barn, which will remain in place. Cost issues have meant that plans for the building were scaled down over the years.
Nonetheless, the groundbreaking is a big win for the veteran leadership team of artistic director BJ Jones and executive director Tim Evans, Northlight is a storied name in nonprofit Chicago theater, stretching back more than 50 years to its founding as the Evanston Theatre Company. The new development (comprised of a 285-seat theater as well as a lobby, bar and rehearsal hall) is likely to be a boost for other downtown Evanston restaurants and retail businesses.
Northlight Theatre was famously rebuffed in the 1990s from moving to the nearby suburb of Wilmette and the extent of its embrace in Evanston has depended on location.
“It’s been an incredible journey,” Evans said. “We feel good that we got through all the hurdles. And we can expand the building down the road.”
“This allows us to return to our roots,” Jones said. “This allows to have control over our artistic lives and truly collaborate with Evanston’s rich artistic community. We will be able to give Evanston the artistic center it has not really had before.”
Given the free parking long available in Skokie, Northlight has been quick to reassure its subscribers that the theater will be similarly convenient for arriving by car or, now, public transportation. “We will have a parking lot at the back of the building,” Evans said, “and we are working out arrangements with the city garages that will have free or discounted parking for our patrons. And we will even have valet service for those who prefer.”
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
