Akoo Theatre now just plain old Rosemont Theatre again

After just a year of being renamed the Akoo Theatre, the Rosemont Theatre has reverted back to its original name.

Patrick Nagel, general manager of the theater and the Allstate Arena, said the building’s signage was officially changed last week.

“The Akoo company went out of business,” Nagel said.

Akoo International Inc. was a global media company with a television network that could be found in shopping malls and college dorms. It acquired the naming rights to the village-owned, 4,400-seat theater in a five-year, $1.5 million deal in February 2012.

The theater hosts musicals, singers and other productions, such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Rosemont Finance Director Don Calmeyn said the village received $200,000 in 2012 from the deal. He said they were to continue receiving $325,000 annually starting this year, but Akoo went out of business in early 2013.

Calmeyn said while it would have been nice to continue receiving that money for the next few years to help support the theater operations, “it’s not the end of the world, either.”

“We didn’t have it before,” he said.

Nagel said in terms of recognition, it was a good time for the theater to change back to its old name.

“Pretty much everybody still knew it as the Rosemont Theatre,” he said.

For now, Nagel said, the theater isn’t pursing another sponsor for naming rights.

“We’re not aggressively, by any means, looking for a new company,” Nagel said.