Kane Repertory Theatre will stage next production at newly opened entertainment venue

Kane Repertory Theatre’s next production will be performed in May at St. Charles’ newest entertainment venue.

“On An Average Day” will run from May 11-May 21 at Moonlight Theatre, located at 7 S. 2nd Ave. in downtown St. Charles. Tickets are available at Kane Repertory Theatre’s website, kanerepertorytheatre.com.

Moonlight Theatre opened its doors to the public Feb. 25 with a sold-out comedy show. The historic building had housed Idle Hour Theatre from 1914-1926.

Kane Repertory Theatre Managing Director Avery Bowne said Moonlight Theatre opened at just the right time for Kane Repertory Theatre to stage its next production there.

“It’s just going to be really special.”

—  Kane Repertory Theatre Development Director Mary Kruse

“We’re going to be their first piece of theatre in the space and I’m really excited about that,” Bowne said. “It’s a wonderful historic and vaudeville stage, so it’s got all the charm that goes along with that. They’ve done such a great job renovating it.”

Kane Repertory Theatre Development Director Mary Kruse said the venue is the perfect fit for the upcoming production.

“It is so intimate,” she said. “It’s just going to be really special.”

They hope that Kane Repertory Theatre’s productions make audiences think.

“In our mission, it actually states that we are a home for intellectually stipulating theatre,” Kruse said. “That is why we stand out and why we want to stand out from other theatres.”

Kane Repertory Theatre does not have a permanent home for its productions nor is it looking for one at this time.

“That allows for a certain flexibility and to present things that are tailor made to the space that we are occupying,” Bowne said. “It is something that we value a lot as a company.”

And in what is becoming a tradition, the Kane Repertory Theatre again will bring the works of William Shakespeare to the pavilion at Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles this summer. Kane Repertory Theatre will be staging “The Winter’s Tale.”

He noted that the director for the upcoming production, Katie Lupica, directed “Twelfth Night” last summer.

“It was an amazing production and was very successful on so many different levels,” Bowne said. “This production, ‘The Winter’s Tale,’ is an interesting play that changes its feeling really quickly. And so it takes a lot of artistry to bounce between drama and comedy.”

Kane Repertory Theatre is busy with projects throughout the year. This fall, it will be partnering with the St. Charles Writers Group, which meets at the St. Charles Public Library.

The theatre group will bring the works of those in the writers group to life.

“We’re going to be performing Page to Stage at the Hunt House Creative Arts Center in St. Charles,” Kruse said.

Kane Repertory Theatre has faced its share of challenges since putting on its first production, “Our Town,” In October 2019. A few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the nonprofit professional theater company was forced to put its live productions on hold and switch to virtual productions.

Kruse said the theatre group has used the challenges to grow even stronger.

“We have taken everything that has happened as an opportunity to not only grow, but almost like reinvent ourselves,” she said.