Barrington theater company seeks donors for 'Stage the Build' campaign

For Barrington's Parker Players Theater Company, essentially a traveling troupe since early 2020, the show will go on permanently at 540 W. Northwest Hwy., within an expansive property known as The Barrington.

Parker Players is in the midst of a "Stage the Build" campaign to construct a theater with seating for up to 150 people, and amenities such as rehearsal space and dressing rooms. Established as the Parker Playhouse in 2015, the theater was reorganized in 2019 under a new board and artistic director Jennifer McHugh.

"There's nothing like it in the Northwest suburbs," McHugh said.

The capital campaign has received support from the Kim Duchossois and Todd and Libby Rieke families in the form of a challenge.

Should Parker Players raise $1 million in community contributions toward the project, the philanthropists will match it.

Several donors have expressed support, "but we need that next push to move the needle," said theater board member Lori Rowe.

It's been a roller coaster journey for Parker Players, currently presenting "Lend Me a Tenor" at The Garlands of Barrington Performing Arts Center through Sunday.

Its former theater, at 117 E. Northwest Hwy., was sold March 2020 to the Illinois Department of Transportation for a railroad underpass.

That sent performances into temporary rooms such as The Garlands, Moretti's, McGonical's Pub and Barrington Campus Life Center, even as the company attracted accomplished actors and directors for productions such as "12 Angry Men."

In early 2022, civic-minded Bourns Inc., owner of The Barrington and represented by Rush Hill, worked out a generous deal with Parker Players first for 5,700 square feet at 540 W. Northwest Hwy., then for 10,000 square feet plus storage space at adjacent 570 W. Northwest Hwy.

"He's truly had a philanthropic mindset with us from the beginning," McHugh said of Hill. "He wants to turn it into a cultural and artistic center for Barrington."

The theater company signed a lease this June.

"The property owner, Bourns Inc., and the Bourns family are pleased to support the Parker Players Theater Company with their occupancy in The Barrington," Hill said. "We are confident they will continue to grow into a major cultural magnet for the Barrington communities."

Housing defense contractor Re/Con Optical until 1996, 540 W. Northwest Hwy., had been rebuilt in 2007 by GE Capital, which left in 2017 and Bourns took ownership. Many of the current fixtures, architecture and equipment are being repurposed for the new theater.

Rowe envisions it also being used by other performance groups or for corporate meetings.

The design, by Heitman Architects Inc., will offer a black box theater with flexible stage and seating options.

With the capital campaign underway, McHugh already is preparing for the February opening of Yasmina Reza's "Art" in a smaller space in the building. She calls it "Phase 1A."

"Our theater vision is small and intimate and connected, and our fundraising is the same idea," McHugh said.