Northlight Theatre has announced its 2026-27 season, its first season in its new theater in downtown Evanston.
The subscription season will include five plays, including three world premieres, preceded by a celebratory opening gala on Aug. 15. The new theater building at 1012 Church St. has been a long time in the planning and marks an Evanston homecoming for Northlight, which was founded in 1974 and had performed for almost three decades at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.
The season, led by artistic director BJ Jones and executive director Timothy J. Evans, opens with Jeffrey Hatcher’s “The Front Page,” a new adaptation of the comedy that inspired the 1940 film “His Girl Friday,” and concludes in June 2027 with a world premiere about musical trailblazer Pearl Bailey, slated to star E. Faye Butler.
Northlight broke ground on the new building a year ago after purchasing the Evanston lot in 2021 — this after receiving an initial approval for the project in 2019 and planning the move even earlier than that. The venue will boast a 285-seat mainstage, a bar and café in the lobby, a second-floor rehearsal and event space, and lounge spaces.
“The Front Page” (Sept. 9 to Oct. 18)
A world premiere adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by BJ Jones and starring Kate Fry and Timothy Edward Kane. From the original classic comedy by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur about an ace reporter and her editor, set in the world of 1930s Chicago newspapers.
“All the World” (Nov. 11 to Dec. 20)
World premiere holiday production by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Jessica Thebus. A backstage romance between two actors during the holidays, who must navigate all the stresses of their on-stage and off-stage lives.
“The American Five” (Feb. 3 to March 3, 2027)
By Chess Jakobs, directed by Mikael Burke. The civil rights story about Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison and Clarence B. Jones planning the March on Washington.
“Here There Are Blueberries” (April 7 to May 17, 2027)
By Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich. Charles Newell, former artistic director of Court Theatre in Hyde Park, comes to Northlight to direct the recent Pulitzer finalist based on real events. An archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., receives a mysterious album of Nazi-era photographs.
“Pearl’s in the House” (June 7 to July 18, 2027)
By Art Manke, directed by Kenneth L. Roberson. Pearl Bailey agrees to an interview on the eve of a concert in the Reagan White House.
Subscriptions ($180 to $325) are now available at 847-563-8400 and northlight.org.
dgeorge@chicagotribune.com
