Walter Stearns to exit Porchlight and take over Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre has new owners. L. Walter Stearns, artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago for the last 12 years, is leaving his post to become executive director of the theater, which has been purchased by a group of private investors known as The Southport Theatre, LLC. It will reopen within a few weeks as a venue for live entertainment under Stearns' management.
In an interview Tuesday, Stearns said the Mercury Theatre will operate as a rental venue for outside producers of live entertainment and will also produce its own shows. He declined to identify the private investors. Porchlight, meanwhile, said it will conduct a national search for Stearns' replacement.
The Mercury Theatre, at 3745 N. Southport Ave., is a venue with enviable appointments, 298 seats and a plumb location in the heart of a retail and night life district. The theater has been caught up in the unraveling of the business interests of its developer and original owner, producer-restaurateur Michael Cullen. Cullen suffered a serious stroke in January and the theater has been sitting empty since. The purchase agreement includes the two restaurant spaces on either side of the theater. Cullen will continue to lease his namesake bar; the other is vacant.
There has been much speculation on the Mercury's future, and there have been several interested parties, ranging from producer Gigi Pritzker to actor Vince Vaughn. But Stearns' new, for-profit group says it will preserve the Mercury as a theater, stabilize its business operations and revitalize its programming. That should be good news for local businesses in the area, and for those who worried that the theater would close for good.