Residents expressed hope that Northlight Theatre’s return to Evanston will bring collaboration and accessibility to the city at the theater’s Savor Evanston 1st Ward event Tuesday night. Attendees mingled and talked about their hopes for the theater while eating dinner at the Graduate Evanston.

“It’s going to bring Evanston alive again,” said Marcia Mead Stillerman, a longtime Evanston resident and member of the Northlight Advisory Council. 

For the past 30 years, the theater was housed in the North Shore Center for Performing Arts in Skokie, but it is returning to its birthplace this fall at a new downtown location on Church Street. 

Leading up to its official opening, the theater is partnering with Evanston businesses and nonprofits to host promotional dinners in each ward.

Stillerman said the theater will be an “anchor” for restaurants and businesses that want to move into the surrounding area. 

A new restaurant will open next door in the summer, and a neighboring building will eventually be taken down to create space for new housing in the coming years, according to Timothy Evans, the theater’s executive director.

The theater hopes to further its goal of empowering young people through partnerships with education programs and nonprofits like Evanston Scholars and Family Focus. It will also provide a physical space for community events, Stillerman said.

In addition to the 285-seat theater, the building will feature a rehearsal hall, lounge, special events room and projection room.

Artistic director BJ Jones said he believes Evanston patrons have a lot to offer the theater as well. 

“There were so many people walking around downtown Evanston, and I realized how much Evanston is gonna do for us,” he said. “We’re really excited about the synchronicity between the community and our art.” 

First Ward resident Joan Gunzberg said she appreciated Tuesday’s meet-the-ward event and the theater’s regular communication with the community. 

Gunzberg added she has been a subscriber to the theater since she moved to Evanston in the 1980s.

“You feel like you’re part of an extended family,” Gunzberg said. 

Communication junior Maya Palacios attended Tuesday night’s event in hopes of learning more about opportunities to collaborate with community theater organizations. 

“That’s what most of us try to do, is make theater that is accessible and understandable to the people around us and our communities,” she said. “Having Northlight here in Evanston is going to amp up the presence of theater tenfold.” 

Email: [email protected]

X: @BethkeTia

Related Stories: 

— ‘The people’s theater’: Northlight staff herald cultural institution’s return to Evanston

— Northlight Theatre’s groundbreaking marks hopeful future for Evanston arts scene

— Evanston History Center exhibit highlights local female artists