Chicago Jewish Theatre

Chicago Jewish Theatre, the only professional theater in the Chicago area dedicated to celebrating and illuminating Jewish history, culture and identity, will be relocating to Skokie in July of 2006.
 
The theatre, which has occupied their own 50-seat storefront space in Andersonville, at 5123 N. Clark Street since 2003, will have its new home in the 260 seat Elaine and Zollie Frank Theatre located in the Mayer Kaplan JCC, 5050 Church, Skokie.  The comfortable, fully equipped theater has recently been refurbished with new seats and carpeting, and features state of the art lighting and sound systems. There is also a 280-car capacity free parking lot adjacent to the building.
 
"We are making this move because of numerous requests from audience members to move into Skokie as well as the desire to better serve our main audience which is based in Skokie and beyond in the North Shore suburbs," says Elayne LeTraunik, CJT's Artistic Director. "We have been very gratified by the support we have received from the Village of Skokie, the Skokie Chamber of Commerce, Village and State Representatives, as well as representatives of the Mayer Kaplan JCC and the JCC's of Chicago. We owe all of these individuals and organizations a debt of gratitude for their support."  She added, "This move will be the start of a new and exciting phase of the theater's development."
 
The theater's current space in Andersonville is being offered for sublet to any interested theater company.  "It is fully equipped and licensed," says LeTraunik.  "It is a turnkey production operation."
 
In addition to the mainstage productions, LeTraunik is planning several special presentations and a fundraiser, exploring touring productions and children's theater productions in partnership with the JCC's Young Actors Ensemble (operated out of the Mayer Kaplan JCC).