Three Brothers Theatre

Such a great little theater. I won tickets on Unilocal (thank you) and had to put them to use. We saw two shows so far, House on Haunted Hill and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. We enjoyed both productions.
The theater is small but charming. Think of an adult acting troupe putting on a skilled and talented show in a place better than a family basement or garage. This is not a negative statement! Think chairs that do not match and seats that do not recline. You won’t notice after 2 minutes, I promise. This is not big budget Broadway theater. The Three Brothers Theater may be the Great Pumpkin of North Shore Theaters, beacuse it is most sincere in its efforts.
BYOW, Bring Your Own Wine is an option. I believe it costs $ 5.00 and they will provide cups.
Street parking can compete with the large Genese Theater down the street, but there is ample lot parking at a reasonable cost.
I really really hope they do a stage version of Clue. It would make excellent use of the doors, halls and passageways.

My first visit to Three Brothers Theatre was for an October showing of «House on Haunted Hill.» I won tickets on Unilocal (whoohoo!) so I was very much looking forward to a fun, inexpensive night out.
I’m not familiar with downtown Waukegan, but there was a «Zombie Wauk» going on at night which gave the town a lively, spooky feel. Three Brothers is down the street from a more swanky, high profile theater. TB is much smaller, casual, and more intimate.
We were greeted warmly by one of the employees who allowed us to use our program as a seat marker. We «reserved» the seats in the front row with the intention to come back later. Note: Do NOT go get a drink beforehand at the corner bar, La Opera. Don’t do it. Anyway…
There isn’t a bad seat in the house — there is one stage, front and center, surrounded by possibly 30 – 40 seats. There is no glamorous orchestra pit, intermissions, or scene changes. The beauty of amateur theater is in the acting and what they do with a single stage and a few props.
We returned to finding some people sitting in our seats. It didn’t really matter, but it’s useful to know that «reserving» doesn’t mean anything if the other attendees are ignorant. At the end of the night, I was glad we ended up in the second row though.
The show we saw was entertaining, and again the acting was very impressive. «House on Haunted Hill» was a lot like «Clue» with the murder mystery element and dry humor.
I liked the relaxed atmosphere of the theater. It’s also BYOB, which was evident when one woman in the audience hysterically laughed at every line, every dry joke, every expression… it became tiring, and people began to shoot her dirty looks. Even the actors had some difficulty stifling a laugh toward the end. This woman was incredibly obnoxious, I wondered how many bottles of wine she’d had. We started to wonder if maybe WE were missing something, and maybe this was meant to be some kind of slapstick comedy?
Three Brothers Theatre gets my approval, and I won’t knock free tickets! Ticket prices are regularly $ 20/​person. At $ 20, I think the theatre/​show is overpriced. $ 20 would be a better deal if there were 2 shows back to back, or one longer production or… some other element. Something was missing for me to come back and spend $ 40 for both of us to see a show here.

The revolution of the modern day Blackbox theater has another addition to Waukegan. This theater stands out as its «Theater» Marquee shows proudly just a block South of the mighty Genesee theater and within its walls the magic is created. This grass roots effort of bringing live theater to Waukegan is not coming from amateurs. Led by the Executive Director Josh Beadle who comes with a M.A. in Technical Theatre from Northern Illinois University and with his team of talented minions with linear backgrounds has put on some wonderful productions. Taking free range movies and screenplays and molding them into wonderful entertainment has gotten rave reviews and has filled the house for over a year. Taking on old classics like «Night of the Living Dead» and «Santa Clause Conquers the Martians» and turning them into live productions on this cozy and friendly stage has put a mark on the Waukegan Art District. A comfortable 60 seat house that offers refreshments and light snacks and soon to be offering a «Bring Your Own» wine option as well. Prices are affordable at $ 20.00 per ticket with $ 5.00 discounts for Seniors and Students. I really enjoyed the energy and the shows so much that I volunteered to help out and became a part of this effort.

Don’t let the somewhat unkept look of the windows of this new store front theatre fool you. Once you come it’s very pleasant. Much roomier than a normal theatre. And quite comfortable. They have the usual amenities as far as soda and chips. The bathrooms are well maintained. Lots of parking around them and somewhat of a speck of nightlife. I wish Chicago storefronts where this nice.