About

The Summer Place, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit, volunteer-supported community theatre, founded and based in Naperville, strives to provide professional quality year-round theatre arts entertainment since 1966. The Summer Place, Inc. (or Summer Place Theatre as it has come to be known) got its start as a way to keep students active and their acting skills sharp over the summer months.  It was founded by Donald "Doc" Shanower, then Dean of Theatre at North Central College.

 We are committed to providing:

• A supportive and collaborative environment for artists;
• High quality, culturally enriching entertainment to the community;
• Educational opportunities for all ages through mentoring and performance based participation.

The Summer Place, Inc. gets funding through ticket sales, advertising sales, concessions proceeds, grants, and the generous donations of our patrons.

The bulk of our expenses go towards royalty fees, set building costs, and, depending on the production, costuming. To a far lesser extent we spend money on honorariums for our directors and musicians. Our producers, who are pulled from our Board of Directors, are not paid to produce the shows, nor are any of our Board Members or Officers paid for their service.

Summer Place provides a great deal to Naperville: the opportunity to gather and create a work of art and to share that work with its citizens at a very low cost.

One of our largest supporters is Naperville itself. The Naperville Park District provides rooms for us to meet and rehearse and is a partner with us for Ghost Stories in the fall, and Naperville School District 203 provides our theatre venue during the summer: Naperville Central High School Auditorium. We are excited to join the Chamber of Commerce!