Theatre & Arts Park
The Theatre Department is always looking for more talented community members to join in the fun. Call the Box Office at (815) 921-2160 to find out how you can get involved!
Starlight Theatre
(815) 921-2160
In 1967, a group of Rock Valley College students wanted to bring their community to the Main Campus. They hoped to encourage the public to appreciate the beauty of their college’s farm setting, and the students decided that the best way to accomplish this goal was to perform a musical nestled beside the beautiful farm pond. People from the community came out with their lawn chairs and watched the amazing production. That first show on Thursday, August 3, 1967 at 8:30 pm, Finian’s Rainbow, was staged on the college lawn and was billed as Rockford’s “first all-community musical.”
Since the fall of 1967, RVC has brought affordable, outdoor summer musical theatre to residents of the community.
Times have changed a bit since 1967. Now, audiences no longer bring their own chairs and blankets, but sit in its comfortable 1,041-seat bowl. But it’s not just the venue that’s grown. The past 54 summers, Starlight has become an integral part of the college’s Community Outreach initiatives, not to mention a cornerstone of Rockford’s summer community.
Today, the performance space is no longer a makeshift stage, but a genuine, state-of-the-art theatre, which a Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic called “an engineering wonder.” Bengt Sjostrom Theatre (BST) has since been built, remodeled, and remodeled again, most recently in 2002/2003 – designed by leading female architect and MacArthur fellowship recipient Jeanne Gang (from Belvidere, Illinois, who founded Studio Gang Architects – an architecture, interiors, and urbanism practice in Chicago and New York). An important enhancement for an outdoor summer theatre, Gang designed a one-of-a-kind articulated, 70-foot star-shaped roof that can be opened as audiences look up at the night sky, and closed during inclement weather. A constellation- themed ticket and control booth, and versatile stage house, makes BST truly unique, and the construction/design of the BST resulted in international recognition, as well as moved Rock Valley College into the forefront of leadership for community arts and entertainment.
Starlight Theatre is one of the nation’s largest professionally-produced community theatres. This oldest, continuously operating theatre in Rockford, offers amateur actors, singers, and dancers an opportunity to work under the direction of professional artistic and technical directors. It attracts hundreds of volunteer performers and crew members (over 35,000 individuals throughout the years), where they have each given of themselves for our community’s enrichment, and in the process have shared their joy of performing with audiences of nearly 25,000 each season and a total of more than a million attendees over the years.
Starlight produces large-scale musicals with casts sometimes reaching over a hundred actors! More than 140 shows have taken the Starlight stage, including: Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mama Mia!, a new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables, Dream Girls, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, In the Heights and many more!
Starlight also boasts a distinguished roster of alums including some of the nation’s most gifted performers and technicians: Rockford’s New American Theatre founder J. R. Sullivan; Broadway star and voice of Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Jodi Mazorrati Benson; the late, great Marin Mazzie; Art Director of Hollywood’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Dan Webster; Chairman of NBC Entertainment, Bob Greenblatt; and Broadway Director and Star, Joe Mantello among many others.
Starlight has expanded its seasonal offerings beyond the typical four summer musical productions. In addition to the beloved Starlittle performances tailored for young audiences, this year introduces the StarBright show. The StarBright series aims to highlight the exceptionally talented 8-18-year-olds who grace Starlight's stage but are not yet ready for lead roles. This series not only nurtures the future stars of Starlight but also provides them with a platform to shine, allowing the community to witness their brilliance firsthand.
In the fall of 2018, Starlight unveiled a new series that seamlessly blends tradition with innovation. Enter Starlight Shakes, an outdoor Shakespeare production set on the picturesque lawn of the Rock Valley College campus each autumn. Unlike the Studio Theatre's indoor thrust Shakespeare's works of the past, Starlight Shakes aims to bring the Bard's timeless scripts to life with minimalist production values, true to their original essence. This outdoor venture not only highlights the beauty of the RVC campus but also offers audiences the tranquil backdrop of the night sky. A hallmark of the experience, attendees from near and far gather with their lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy a performance under the stars on the Ray Castle Stage, making Starlight Shakes a cherished community tradition.
For additional info, please visit Starlight Theatre.