About Steel Beam Theatre
PROFESSIONAL, AWARD WINNING THEATRE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
From the beginning, Steel Beam Theatre has focused on presenting passionate, engaging, provoking – but always entertaining – professional theatre that’s accessible and affordable to all audiences.
As the name suggests, Steel Beam provides a pillar of the community, offering a gathering place for those deeply interested in fostering the arts in downtown St. Charles, as well as the surrounding cities (South Elgin, Batavia, Geneva and West Chicago), and the Fox Valley region.
The mission set forth by our Board of Directors includes developing programs that build and foster interest in the performing arts for future generations. To that end, we are a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization in order to pursue youth and community outreach, training and education.
WHY LIVE THEATRE?
You probably enjoy your favorite musicians live and up close. Well, we sing and dance. If you like cabaret-style stand-up comedy, we’re funny, too, and in all the right places. Everything we do is live and in the moment. We’d love to see you there as well.
SBT ADMINISTRATION
Steel Beam Theatre is a professionally run not-for-profit organization. We operate with our Managing Director and Artistic Director at the helm, who develop and manage our main stage seasons, work with creative and production staff and manages the day to workings of a busy theatre.
As an organization who believes part of its mission is to educate and foster interest in the arts in the Fox Valley, Steel Beam offers a full slate of youth programming which brings together theatre educators from the Chicago metro and Fox Valley regions to create and teach their passions. Click through to review the Youth Theatre Education Program and On-Stage Youth Performance opportunities.
SBT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
MARGE UHLARIK-BOLLER
Marge Uhlarik-Boller assumed the artistic leadership and management of Steel Beam Theatre in 2015. She brings many years of theatre experience to the artistic aspects of the company, but also the hard-won administrative skills earned as an educator and administrator.
Marge and Catie happily share the responsibilities of the day to day business of SBT, as well as the artistic mission and vision of the theatre. Marge’s many years as an educator for gifted students enhances both how she works with the artistic teams but how she works with audiences.
SBT MANAGING DIRECTOR:
CATIE EARLY
Catie Early joined the Steel Beam team in 2019 as the Youth Program Coordinator, before moving into the role of Managing Director in 2021. She has worked in the Fox Valley theatre community for over twenty years as an actor, director, producer, stage manager, event coordinator, stage combatant, and theatre technician. She has been on the Board of the Children’s Theatre of Elgin since 2013 where she has served as President since 2017. She also currently works as a theatre educator at the Paramount School of the Arts.
Catie and Marge happily share the responsibilities of the day to day business of SBT, as well as the artistic mission and vision of the theatre. Catie hopes to see you at the theatre soon!
THEATRE AND ARTISTIC INTERNSHIPS
Internships at Steel Beam Theatre offer immersive experiences for those interested in all aspects of running a professional theatre in a suburban community. We seek energetic, eager candidates who demonstrate knowledge of or dedication to growing in an arts profession or simply applying skills to a business aspect of running a theatre.
Periodically Steel Beam Theatre offers internships positions in direction, stage management, technical theatre, music direction, non-profit theatre marketing and social media.
We seek applicants from local high schools or university theatre programs. Contact the SBT Managing Director via email at catie@steelbeamtheatre.com.
Interested in working at Steel Beam?
We are always looking for new directors and new works by new writers!
We are also currently specifically seeking Box Office Workers and a Set Designer/Builder. Box Office workers will receive $25/show and the Set Designer/Builder compensation is commensurate with experience but begins at $18/hour.
SBT is an equal opportunity employer .
Contact Info:
Interested parties should send resumes/production photos or sketches/cover letter to SBT Artistic Director via email at margesbt1@gmail.com.
From the Steel Beam Theatre founder, Donna Steele:
One day in 1999, I peered into this space, a nearly empty, partially used storage space in a historic building right on Main Street in the heart of St. Charles. Through the dust and grime of many years and the plaster here and there that disguised the beautiful river-stone walls, I saw a perfect place…for a theatre.
The only obstacle seemed to be the two-and-a-half-foot thick stone wall that divided the space in two! A contractor was called in, and as he stood before the formidable wall, he slowly shook his head from side to side: partly in awe, I suppose, for the labor of those men who over one hundred years ago built this wall; and partly in wonder, I suppose, about the dream of this woman which required tearing it down.
And after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke: “Well, the only thing you can do, I suppose, is cut a hole in it and put up a steel beam.”
Magic!
It was at that moment I knew Steel Beam Theatre was meant to be.
STEEL: Strength, holding up, bearing responsibility, enduring
BEAM: Light, hope, joy, inspiration
THEATRE: A sacred place where we can share the mysteries, the joys, the wonders of our human experience.
It is my dream, and hope, that she will live up to her name and strength for years to come.
Donna Steele, Founder Steel Beam Theatre