Since its early beginnings in the living room of a Lakeview condominium 20 years ago, Glenview’s Oil Lamp Theater has prided itself in delivering an intimate live performance.
And that won’t change, even as supporters of the 60-seat storefront theater in downtown Glenview eye expansion, said Executive Director Jay Pastucha.
“We’re aiming for a space that is just as inviting and just as cozy as the Oil Lamp,” said Pastucha, who has held the top leadership position at the theater since 2020. “Our intimacy and community spirit is just what we want.”
Recently, the Oil Lamp Theater launched “Light the Way,” a $5 million capital campaign to renovate a long-vacant storefront—the former Country Cobbler Shoe Store—across the street from the existing theater at 1723 Glenview Road.
Once completed, the new, 5,700 square feet of space, which will be rented by the theater, will include 143 seats, a stage that is “triple” the size of the current stage, better sight lines for audience members, sound and lighting improvements, a lobby, box office, and an improved backstage area for the actors.
If the capital campaign is successful, Pastucha said the goal is for the new theater to open by the end of 2027.
When performances were first held in the home of founder Keith Gerth back in 2005, the Oil Lamp had an audience of 30, Pastucha said. After moving to Glenview in 2012, the number of seats doubled to 60 and the theater gained a 14-foot stage.
But the small space has put limits on the types of productions Oil Lamp can stage, Pastucha acknowledged.
“The musicals we do are often with a one-person band,” he said. “And our cast size has to be small because there is not a lot of space to work with ….There are literal lists of shows that we are sitting on because they won’t fit our current space.”
With more space, the theater can present a wider range of productions, use bigger casts, and appeal to a wider audience, Pastucha noted.
Paul Slade Smith’s “The Outsider,” a satirical play, is set to open on the theater’s stage Jan. 23 and run through Feb. 22. Four more shows are planned for 2026, including “Poor Behavior,” which opens in April, and “The Last Five Years” in June.
Peter Argondizzo, an Oil Lamp patron, supporter and member of the Light the Way campaign committee, agreed that the renovated space is an opportunity for more people to discover the theater.
“We’re blessed that most of the shows sell out; it’s almost like our little secret in Glenview,” he said. “But when we are able to expand the space and get more patrons into the seats, it will finally allow us to reach outside our community and get more people involved. I’m really, really excited about sharing the Oil Lamp with more theater patrons around greater Chicago.”
Like Pastucha, Argondizzo, too, stressed that the “homey feel” of the theater will remain.
“That’s what we’re really trying to carry forward into the larger space,” he said.
Planning for the theater’s future began in late 2022 when community and patron surveys were conducted. The timing was “perfect,” Pastucha said, as it tied in with the village of Glenview’s focus on boosting the viability of its downtown with new shops, restaurants and other businesses.
“Oil Lamp can have a big impact on not only the revitalization of downtown, but on the sustainability and long term plans for what Glenview wants downtown to be,” he said.
Argondizzo agreed.
“My wife and I are business owners here in Glenview and we love to see the revitalization of downtown. We think the theater is going to be a really important part of that,” he said.
Oil Lamp has already experienced an expansion of sorts. Earlier this year, the theater opened the SPARK CENTER for the Performing Arts, 2,750-square-foot space at 1009 Waukegan Road where arts education classes, camps and workshops are offered for children and adults.
Pastucha said the Light the Way committee includes Peter Argondizzo, Tim Faerber, Beth Goldberg, Adam Kushabi, Kay Laurie, Jessica Lemmon, Jackie Lucarelli, Lisa Faremouth Weber, Dan McMillan, Robert Meiksins, Dan Peterson, Paul Sill, and Jeff Zehe.
