Underpass pushes Barrington's Parker Playhouse out of Northwest Highway venue

Barrington's Parker Playhouse is looking for a new home as a result of the state buying its building along Northwest Highway in an effort to clear a path for a possible Canadian National Railway crossing underpass.

This weekend will mark the nonprofit theater's final major performances in the roughly 60-seat venue at 117 E. Northwest Hwy. "The Wizard of Oz" will go on stage at 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 5 p.m. Sunday.

Dan Thake, the theater's interim executive director, said the search is on for another location with the idea of resuming shows by the fall. He said Parker Playhouse will have 30 days to leave the Northwest Highway structure after the sale soon closes, under the agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Thake said Parker Playhouse wants to rent an open space in a Barrington building that can be converted into a theater. He said there are two locations under consideration, but he hopes to find more potential venues to evaluate.

"My job right now is just find those locations and then look at the feasibility, basically," Thake said Monday. "Is this space going to work for us, which entails looking at the electrical, looking at plumbing, looking at rehearsal space, offices. All of those things are part of the feasibility study."

Launched in 2015, the Barrington community theater is named for the late Marc Parker, who was known for his support of the performing arts. He was a founder of the Barrington High School Performing Arts Alumni endowment.

Thake, a former playhouse board president, said there will be much going into storage, such as costumes, props and office equipment. He said the agreement with IDOT requires the agency to pay the storage bills until Parker Playhouse becomes active again.

Parker Playhouse co-founder Nancie Tobison credited the nonprofit Barrington Area Community Foundation for providing a "tremendous grant" to assist the playhouse in staging three productions this year, knowing it would be moving. She said the theater has built a loyal following.

Tobison, who led Barrington High School's acclaimed choir for about 25 years and nominated for a Grammy Music Educator Award in 2015, said the theater has adults and children with varying experience and skill as performers.

"We have some professional performers, people who've made their living doing this type of thing, and we have people as an adult who maybe wanted to do this but never stepped up and put themselves out there," she said.

As for the proposed underpass that led to the theater's move, it would be at railroad tracks crossing Northwest Highway just east of Hough Street/Route 59. The idea is to ensure there always is at least one crossing in Barrington that won't be shut down when CN's trains roll through town.

In 2016, IDOT committed $4 million to help fund land acquisition so structures near the crossing can be demolished for the underpass.