As theaters around the country, including Broadway, continue to struggle, one Chicago suburb is cutting the ribbon on yet another multimillion dollar venue in the area.
You can’t miss Evanston’s new $32 million Northlight Theatre. Situated near both CTA and Metra train stations, with its two-story glass walls facing outward, the building is the result of concerted efforts to integrate the theater company into the neighborhood and create an arts anchor.
“We wanted to design a building that fit into Evanston, but also was distinctive,” said Northlight Executive Director Tim Evans. “It has an industrial sort of feel to it and look to it because we make art in here, but we also wanted it to have a bit of a contemporary flair.”
It took more than a decade to get here. The initial idea started with a study by the National Endowment for the Arts to design an arts district in downtown Evanston that included Northlight’s return. Founded in Evanston in the 1970s, Northlight has spent recent years in nearby Skokie.
Evans, whose theater company has an annual budget around $5.25 million, said the project wouldn’t have made it across the finish line without support from the community.
“I think Evanston has embraced us,” he said. “We have about 625 major donors who donated to the building itself, and 72% of those are from Evanston, so it has become a place of pride for Evanston.” (The State of Illinois and the city of Evanston also contributed.)
The 24,000-square-foot building features plenty of bells-and-whistles, including 150,000 pounds of structural and catwalk steel. But the key component of the space is the theater itself.
“The most important thing is that the audience feels like they’re in the journey of the play. That’s the gift and that’s part of what having a bespoke theater is all about,” said Northlight Artistic Director BJ Jones.
It’s a Tuesday morning, weeks before opening night of the inaugural show, “The Front Page,” which Jones will direct. At the moment, the new auditorium sits empty.
A “bespoke theater,” which Jones refers to, simply means a custom-designed performance space that was built from scratch. The 287 seats that surround Jones as he speaks these words are state of the art. They’re noticeably larger than typical theater seats and have extra legroom, yet the auditorium maintains a feeling of intimacy. That’s by design.
“Chicago is famous for doing storefront theater,” said Jones. “We were throwing theater up in bars and restaurants and street corners back in the day. But this is the next step to take those people who cut their teeth in those spaces and move them to an off-Broadway experience.”
To design a thrust stage with an intimate feel, Northlight turned to Craig Smith of Chicago’s Eckenhoff Saunders architecture firm.
“The stage projects partially into the audience, which basically wraps around part of the stage, creating a direct intimate connection between the audience and the actors,” Smith said.
His design efforts, he said, started with the idea of incorporating the theater into the urban setting of downtown Evanston.
“You have a lot of glass on the facade, so that as you walk by, or as you approach the building, it’s all very transparent,” said Smith. “You can see in, and when you’re inside, you can see out and see the community and neighborhood. That was very important.”
But one challenge to contend with was noise, from the neighboring Metra and CTA stations to nearby Northwestern University and daily Downtown foot and car traffic. “We had to acoustically seal and make sure we’re isolated enough that that didn’t affect the action on stage,” Smith said. “Also, leaning toward intimacy, the acoustics allow for actors to talk without supplemental electronic enhancement as much as possible.”
Even with all the new upgrades — which include large greenrooms for actors, rehearsal space, a loading dock and a costume shop — the theater still has about the same amount of seats as its former location. When building a theater from scratch, why not put 1,000 seats?
Jones said the answer is simple: “We make new work,” he explained. “And to have a big theater puts a greater financial risk on it. We’d rather create the work in its infancy and let it grow, and then, if it has the kind of success that every artist hopes for, then it can move on to bigger spaces and other cities. But, we’re really an incubator for new and fresh work.”
For Evans, the communal aspect was important. “We want to be a community center, a third space, and a public square for all sorts of ideas,” he said. He mentioned the proximity to Northwestern University and the possibility of hosting lectures and TED Talks. He also said he’d like to invite fellow theater companies to use the stage and could potentially host film festivals.
This also extends to tenants. When Northlight purchased its building, they also acquired an adjoining restaurant, owned by a big name in the Chicago food scene.
“The Barn is now a tenant of ours,” said Evans. “Amy Morton is the proprietor and has been for a while. So there’s a steakhouse connected to the theater.”
In the future, both Evans and Jones see Northlight as a hub for arts in Evanston.
“Since we’ve started building, the city of Evanston has decided that this is going to be an arts district,” said Evans. “I think that’s economic stimulation. Arts and culture wants to be an economic driver in the community and is seen as something that can raise all boats in Evanston.”
Evans said that there are about 7,000 people who live within four blocks of the theater that create a “built-in audience.” Already, Northlight has doubled its season subscribers from last year, he added, but his ultimate takeaway for the new venue is what it says about Chicago theater as an industry.
“There are more theaters being built in Chicago than anywhere else right now,” he said, including the new TimeLine Theater, which opened last year, and Edgewater’s Steep Theatre, which broke ground on its new building in December. “I think that reflects the attitude of the audiences in this town. It’s a great theater town. It’s a great actor town. It’s a great director town. So we’re booming.”