Northlight celebrated the ribbon-cutting of our new home at 1012 Church Street on Tuesday, July 28. The ceremony drew city officials, Northlight trustees, staff, donors, elected leaders, and more, and the press is buzzing about our new location:
Northlight Theatre cuts a fresh ribbon in its former Evanston hometown
Chicago Tribune
Northlight Theatre, long of Skokie, has had a date with Evanston from its beginning.
It’s a relationship officially re-consummated Tuesday as Northlight cuts the ribbon on its new, $33 million theater, built from the ground up in downtown Evanston, the near-Chicago suburb with a university whose graduates have shaped much of Chicago’s theater history.
…
The theater’s offices will remain off-site but there is a rehearsal space, comfortable audience seating and an elegant lobby with a grand chandelier and greatly improved technical equipment. The aesthetic is clean and contemporary, akin to an off-Broadway house. Crucially for Jones and Evans, there is also a frontage on a walkable street, which was far from the case in Skokie.
“Now people can just stroll through our door,” Jones said.
‘Premier cultural destination for the North Shore’
Evanston RoundTable
“We believed from the beginning that this would help build a Renaissance in the economic and cultural development for downtown Evanston, the North Shore, and the local theater scene and now we see that,” [Executive Director Timothy J. Evans] said.
…
The project is more than 98% funded out of a project budget of $32.2 million. To date, $31.6 million has been raised from 625 donors.Of those donors, 70% live or work in Evanston.
Northlight cuts ribbon on Church Street theater
Evanston Now
Northlight Theatre is officially back in Evanston, cutting the ribbon on its new state-of-the-art theater on Church Street Tuesday morning ahead of its inaugural season this fall.
The ceremony drew dozens of city officials, Northlight trustees and donors, elected leaders and more, finally unveiling the Theater after over a year of construction and many more years of work to bring Northlight back to Evanston.
…
“As someone who loves the arts, I know that theater is so much more than entertainment,” State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) said. “Northlight shares my belief that arts should be accessible to the entire community … This new theater will be transformative for Evanston.”
‘We’re just happy to be home’: Northlight Theatre cuts ribbon in Evanston, will open with September show
The Daily Northwestern
Former Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, arguing the theater won’t just enrich its community: It will sustain it.
He pointed to new restaurants opening in the area around the theater, such as the soon-to-open The Addled Bunny next door, adding that thousands of people will come to Evanston for the theater and support local restaurants as well.
In the theater’s first five years, Northlight expects its patrons to generate $56 million in new spending in Evanston and over $450,000 in tax revenue.
