Summer Place Theatre was founded in 1966 by North Central College theatre professor Don “Doc” Shanower. For the last fifty years, they have been devoted to providing professional quality theatre arts entertainment to the Naperville community. The volunteer board, cast, and crew work hard together to produce favorite plays and musicals for the Naperville area.
The Summer Place occupies the Naperville Central High School auditorium when the students leave for the summer, performing favorite musicals like Legally Blonde and plays like Cheaper by the Dozen. They also collaborate with the Naperville Park District in the fall for their annual Ghost Stories in the Park… In the Dark!, an evening of spooky storytelling at the Grand Pavilion near Centennial Beach. Summer Place programs other performances, workshops, and theatre classes year round.
The Summer Place, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that receives funding through program ads, concessions, and the sale of affordably priced tickets, as well as from a small number of grants and from the kind donations of its patrons. Summer Place Theatre provides a great deal to Naperville: the opportunity to gather to create a work of art, and to share that work with its citizens at a very low cost.