The Theatre School calls several facilities “home.”
Administrative offices and the majority of classroom activities are housed at The Theatre School Building, 2135 N. Kenmore Avenue on DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus. Previously home to the St. Vincent DePaul parish elementary school, The Theatre School took up residence here in 1986. It holds classrooms, costume shop, scene shop, prop shop, costume storage, light lab, make-up lab, faculty and staff offices and a student lounge. In the evenings, classrooms convert to rehearsal and performance spaces for the more than 35 productions that occur throughout the academic year.
Across the street from The Theatre School Building is The Theatre School Annex at 2130 N. Kenmore Avenue., which houses additional faculty offices and classrooms, a script library, dramaturgical resource center, computer lab and design studios.
Both The Theatre School and its Annex are regularly filled with activity from early morning until late at night, as the community moves from being a “school by day” to a “theatre by night.”
Directions to The Theatre School and The Theatre School Annex
The Theatre School presents the majority of its public performances at the historic Merle Reskin Theatre, located at 60 E. Balbo Drive, between Michigan and Wabash avenues in the heart of the city of Chicago. Formerly known as the Blackstone Theatre and purchased by DePaul from the Shubert Organization in 1988, the theatre was renamed in honor of a major donor in 1992.
Each year, this 1,325 seat proscenium theatre provides performance space for the nearly 200 public performances of The Theatre School, including The Theatre School Showcase and Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences. The school brings an audience of more than 45,000 people to the theatre each season. When not occupied by Theatre School productions, its world-class stage is used by DePaul’s School of Music and many other not-for-profit organizations.
The theatre was designed by Chicago architects Marshall & Fox in 1910, and the stone façade and mansard roof of the French Renaissance-style building have been modified only slightly over the years. The interior finish of French walnut and gold were designed by Plamondon & Tetze to give the appearance of a European opera house. The theatre housed a number of Federal Theatre Project productions in the 1930s, and was later well maintained by the Shubert Organization, which acquired it in 1946 and presented touring legitimate theatre and vaudeville acts.
Countless famous performers graced the stage of the Blackstone Theatre over its illustrious history, including Ray Bolger, Hume Cronyn, Peter Falk, Henry Fonda, Uta Hagen, Katharine Hepburn, Dustin Hoffman, Lena Horne, James Earl Jones, Vivien Leigh, Myrna Loy, Joe Mantegna, Geraldine Page, Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, Jessica Tandy and Studs Terkel.
To learn more about DePaul’s Merle Reskin Theatre, read its history. If you are interested in renting the theatre, please contact Leslie Shook, Theatre Manager, 773.325.7965.
Directions to DePaul’s Merle Reskin Theatre
Other public performances of The Theatre School are held at the Athenaeum Theatre Studio Three, located at 2936 N. Southport Avenue on Chicago’s North side. This studio space, dedicated in memory of The Theatre School’s late dean Michael Maggio, seats approximately 80 and hosts the school’s New Directors Series and New Playwrights Series, among others.
Directions to Athenaeum Studio Three
The Theatre School calls several facilities “home.”
Administrative offices and the majority of classroom activities are housed at The Theatre School Building, 2135 N. Kenmore Avenue on DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus. Previously home to the St. Vincent DePaul parish elementary school, The Theatre School took up residence here in 1986. It holds classrooms, costume shop, scene shop, prop shop, costume storage, light lab, make-up lab, faculty and staff offices and a student lounge. In the evenings, classrooms convert to rehearsal and performance spaces for the more than 35 productions that occur throughout the academic year.
Across the street from The Theatre School Building is The Theatre School Annex at 2130 N. Kenmore Avenue., which houses additional faculty offices and classrooms, a script library, dramaturgical resource center, computer lab and design studios.
Both The Theatre School and its Annex are regularly filled with activity from early morning until late at night, as the community moves from being a “school by day” to a “theatre by night.”
