The Timber Lake Playhouse, founded in 1961, is the oldest continuously operating professional and resident summer stock theatre company in Illinois.
[3] An additional 18 buildings on the ground serve various residence and preparation functions, including scene and costume shops and a large rehearsal pavilion.
Students, faculty members and their families, plus business and professional leaders from across 6 counties in northwestern Illinois, also 2 more in eastern Iowa, responded to planning and start-up enlistment by Andrew Bro, the college's chaplain and theatre director, and by Donald Mackay, owner of the Timber Lake properties and constructor of the reservoir.
[2] Frequent meetings led the expanding volunteer group to adopt by-laws, not-for-profit incorporation, board and committee formations, and by Thanksgiving weekend, 1961, to official groundbreaking.
Containing a wide proscenium stage and 370 fixed seats donated by a nearby movie house,[4] the theatre's opening night arrived on June 28, 1962, and eight more performances of Teahouse of the August Moon ensued.