The company was founded in 1975 by Marion Kaczmar, an Oak Park resident and arts patron, and performed Renaissance works, almost exclusively by William Shakespeare, until 2004, when it broadened its scope to classics of other eras.
To attract a greater following, Renaissance, classical, and modern American works were added to the offerings, some being produced indoors in historic Farson-Mills Home and, in the 2010-11 season, in the studio space in the Madison Street Theatre.
The hill was, at that time, crowned on all sides with numerous large bushes and small trees, providing a natural set for battle scenes and forest liaisons.
These included multiple productions of The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Macbeth, Love's Labour's Lost, and others.
Featured Actors' Equity members have included Chicago actors David Mamet, David Darlow,[4] Kristine Thatcher, Kevin Theis, Don Brearley, William J. Norris, Greg Vinkler,[5] Aaron Christiansen, Ned Mochel, Susan Hart, Ray Andrecheck, Lanny Lutz, George Wilson, Kevin Gudahl, Mary Michell, Barbara Zahora, Henry Godinez, Steve Pickering, Kathey Logelin, Linda Kimborough, and others, as well as professional non-Equity actors such as Dennis Grimes, David Skvarla, Mark Richard, Michael W. Halberstam, Robert Petkoff, Toni Graves, Krista Lally,[6] Maggie Kettering, Anne Gottlieb, Peter Ash, Meredith Siemsen, and Christopher Prentice.
[7] Its expanded production schedule has included Faith Healer, Picnic, Tartuffe, All My Sons, Cyrano de Bergerac, and other plays considered to be classics of many eras.