Mayne Stage
Chicago, IL 60626
The Mayne Stage was one of the featured locations during openhousechicago 2011 & 2012.
Listed in: Rogers Park 2016, ads: pages 8, 34.
With a nod to the historic past of this grand facility, Mayne Stage features a restaurant (Act One Café) and performance space that reflects the unique and diverse history of Rogers Park. Mayne Stage is happy to present a variety of terrific acts in its 299-seat multipurpose entertainment venue.
The theater, on Morse Avenue at Wayne Avenue, opened as Morse Theater in 1912 a vaudeville and nickelodeon movie house house. In the 1930s, the facility was remodeled using an Art Deco theme and renamed the Co-Ed Theater because of its proximity to Loyola University. The Co-Ed closed in 1954, and from 1956 until 2008 the building served in various capacities from Congregation Beth Israel Anshe Yanovas, a synagogue, to a shoe repair store.
Now, with a recent multi-million dollar restoration and renovation project, the entertainment and dining venue is poised to be a magnet for significant development in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
In addition to live performance, and utilizing its state-of-the-art audio and video systems, the venue offers space for studio recordings, rehearsals, educational programs, corporate events and private parties.
Mayne Stage Ditches Live Music, Will Host Weddings, Private Parties Instead
By Linze Rice | April 4, 2016 3:24pm | DNAinfo.com
ROGERS PARK — After six years of live entertainment, Col. Jennifer Pritzker's Mayne Stage in Rogers Park is now running the historic former Morse Theater as a rentable private event venue.
Tawani Enterprises Inc., the development company that oversees the theater and is also owned by Pritzker, announced in January Mayne Stage's Act One Pub would close on March 31.
When asked if the attached concert hall would turnover its staff and re-brand as well, a spokeswoman for Tawani said at the time nothing at Mayne Stage would change and it would continue to serve as an entertainment venue.
But a new message posted to Mayne Stage's homepage said the theater space, too, was undergoing a transition.
Theater owners will "keep our doors open," but not as a public music and performance venue.
"Although the doors to Act One Pub have closed, the party still continues at Mayne Stage," the website says. "We will continue to keep our doors open as a private event venue."
Mayne Stage's website says it now specializes in weddings, corporate events, private parties, receptions, bat mitzvahs, and more.
The site says Pat and Toni Hanrahan of Joseph Leigh Designs will run the space.
"We have partnered with an Event Management and Design firm to continue to provide our clients with a one-of-a-kind event space," the site says.
Tawani earlier had said it was closing Act One Pub to focus on developing and managing real estate, "Its core competency."
The historic theater at 1330 W. Morse Avenue was formerly the Morse Theater, built in 1912, and Co-Ed Theater, before getting a multi-million dollar rehab by Pritzker and opening as Mayne Stage with Act One Pub in 2010.
Pritzker is also behind the construction of a 45-unit condo building with three floors of dedicated parking across the street at 1313 W. Morse Avenue.
Parking is said to be shared between residents of the new building and Mayne Stage customers by Tawani Developers.
