Theater

Spotlight: Steel Beam bids farewell to St. Charles

Posted March 16, 2026 12:28 pm

Barbara Vitello

Earlier this month, St. Charles’ Steel Beam Theatre announced it is closing after 25 years. Courtesy of Dave Heun

Hail and farewell Steel Beam Theatre

In 1999, actor/director Donna Steele peered into a second-floor storage space at 111 W. Main St., St. Charles, and decided it would make a good theater.

Named for the beam that contractors installed to support the structure and create the stage, Steel Beam Theatre opened two years later with Steele as its founding artistic director. For more than two decades, the St. Charles theater produced intimate main stage productions featuring mostly local theater artists.

Earlier this month, in a social media post expressing gratitude for the “countless artists, volunteers, patrons, supporters and families who helped make Steel Beam Theatre a vibrant part of the St. Charles arts community,” Steel Beam signaled the end of an era.

Taking its place is The Fox Youth Stage, which will focus on youth “programming that nurtures creativity, confidence, collaboration and, most importantly, a genuine love for the arts within the young performers throughout our communities.”

Jordan Lane Shappell, seen here in rehearsal, plays college professor Asaf in Theater Wit’s Midwest premiere of Itamar Moses’ “The Ally.” Courtesy of Theater Wit

Midwest premiere

A well-meaning Jewish professor agrees to endorse a student’s anti-police brutality manifesto then realizes its scope is broader than he imagined in “The Ally,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist by Itamar Moses (“The Band’s Visit,” “Dead Outlaw”). Jeremy Wechsler directs Theater Wit’s Midwest premiere of Moses’ dark comedy about a man forced to question his identity and faith.

Previews at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 20-21 and 27-28; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22 and 29; and 7 p.m. March 26 at 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens March 30. $18-$44. (773) 975-8150 or theaterwit.org.

The family-friendly “Potted Potter” comes to Chicago’s Studebaker Theatre for a limited run. Courtesy of Dahlia Katz

‘Potter’ returns

“Potted Potter,” the family-friendly Harry Potter parody, which recounts all seven Harry Potter books in 70 minutes, returns to Chicago for a limited run.

8 p.m. Friday, March 20, and Tuesday, March 24; 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21, Monday, March 23 and Sunday, March 29; 5 p.m. Sunday, March 22; 2 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, and Friday, March 27; and 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28, at the Studebaker Theatre, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. $69.99-$119.99. pottedpotter.com.

TEN at 25

The Gift Theatre’s TEN, its annual showcase of new 10-minute plays, celebrates its 25th anniversary. This year’s lineup includes plays by Chicago playwrights: John Gawlik, Jennifer Rumberger, Gregory Fenner, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Dolores Diaz, Stephanie Alison Walker, Emilio Williams, Jermaine Jenkins and Brett Neveu.

Wednesday, March 25, through April 4 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago. $25. (773) 283-7071 or thegifttheatre.org.

All for one …

Idle Muse Theatre Company launches its 20th anniversary season with “The Three Musketeers,” adapted by Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Robert Kauzlaric from Alexander Dumas’ 1844 novel about the adventures of Athos, Porthos and Aramis — a trio of swashbucklers sworn to defend France’s monarch — and their new recruit D’Artagnan. Artistic director Evan Jackson directs

Previews at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 26-27, at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave., Chicago. The show opens March 28. $30-$50. (773) 340-9438 or IdleMuse.org.