Mill Run Children's Theatre
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Mill Run Playhouse (aka Mill Run Theatre) was a 1,600 seat
theatre in the round Theatre-in-the-round, also known as arena theatre or central staging, is a theatrical stage configuration in which the audience surrounds the performance area on all sides. Historically rooted in ancient Greece and Rome performance practices, ...
in
Niles, Illinois Niles is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located in the townships of Maine Township, Cook County, Illinois, Maine and Niles Township, Cook County, Illinois, Niles, directly neighboring Chicago's far northwest border. Per the 2 ...
. It was built in 1965 on the grounds of the
Golf Mill Shopping Center Golf Mill Shopping Center, or simply Golf Mill, sometimes called Trash Mill is a shopping center located at 239 Golf Mill Center in Niles, Illinois. The shopping mall has a gross leasable area of . It is managed by Sterling Retail Services. It ...
. It was scheduled to open in June 1965 but torrential rains delayed the opening to July 2, 1965. It was demolished in August 1984. Its last show was a performance by
Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...
on August 1.


History

Mill Run was originally a venue for off-Broadway shows. It closed sometime in the late 1960s. In 1969, a group headed by Gerald Kaufman,
Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...
, and Donjo Medlevine (a former owner of the Chez Paris), leased the theater from
Golf Mill Shopping Center Golf Mill Shopping Center, or simply Golf Mill, sometimes called Trash Mill is a shopping center located at 239 Golf Mill Center in Niles, Illinois. The shopping mall has a gross leasable area of . It is managed by Sterling Retail Services. It ...
. The plan of the new operators was to bring to the theater Las Vegas entertainers, each act opening on a Tuesday and performing 8 or 9 shows - 1 show each night from Tuesday through Thursday, 1 or 2 shows on Friday, and 2 shows on Saturday and Sunday (some shows were booked for weekend performances only, depending on popularity/availability of performers). Almost every show had an opening act and the 20-minute intermission between acts was utilized by the theater to sell drinks and candy. Long before the theater showed a profit, it was kept solvent by the sale of liquor. First musical contractor was Edwin Shedosky, who was also lead trumpet player for all the orchestras he assembled that the various artists and plays required. 1970 - 1971. The first act to perform - in early 1970 - was
Shecky Greene Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield; April 8, 1926 – December 31, 2023) was an American comedian and actor. He was known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a headliner in the 1950s and 1960s. He appea ...
, who was paid $30,000 for the appearance (tickets went for $7.50). One of the last to perform - in 1984 - was
Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...
, who was paid $250,000 (tickets now cost $25). In the mid-1970s, management started booking one-night stands on Monday nights, sometimes boxing matches, sometimes headliners.
Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...
was one of the first to perform on a Monday night. His performance sold out, all records for candy sales were broken, and the theater came close to the single night record for liquor sales. When Kaufman saw the figures. he told Butch Wonders, his manager, to re-book Tom Waits. Butch said that Mr. Waits said he would never work there again as it was the first time he had ever worked in a venue where the patrons "didn't vomit in the aisles." Periodically, the theater would showcase a musical or play, such as
Sweet Charity ''Sweet Charity'' is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and book by Neil Simon, based on the screenplay for the 1957 Italian film '' Nights of Cabiria''. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse sta ...
,
Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...
, Grease, and
Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...
. Throughout this time, the theater presented shows for children on weekday and weekend mornings. Harry Lee Rogers ran this operation, handling scripts, costumes, music, lighting, casting, and directing single-handedly. In 1971, Marquee Enterprises was formed to operate Mill Run. It then opened a second venue in
San Carlos, California San Carlos (Spanish language, Spanish for "St. Charles") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population is 30,722 per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Native Americans Prior to the Spain, Spanis ...
( Circle Star Theater), and subsequently opened other theaters in Los Angeles, Sunrise (Florida), Louisville, Atlanta, and New York. It also ran shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York for 13 weeks a year for several years. It also booked shows for other owners' venues (such as Holiday Star Theater in Merrillville, Indiana). The theater closed when Golf Mill Shopping Center, the owner of the property, refused to renew the lease in 1984. The site is now part of the parking lot of the shopping center.


Cancelled renovation

A renovation was scheduled for January 1977 to increase the seating capacity to 2,000 seats and to be closed for six months during renovation. The renovation never went through.


Notable performers


References

{{reflist


External links


Belli & Belli Architects and Engineers
Buildings and structures demolished in 1984 Demolished theatres in Illinois Niles, Illinois Theatres completed in 1965