Paramount Theatre cancels its Bold subscription series due to Aurora funding cut

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

In an uncharacteristic retrenchment, the growth-oriented Paramount Theatre in Aurora has canceled one of its two theater subscription series for 2026, its board of directors announced on social media late Monday, citing an anticipated large reduction in city funding.
The cancellation means that the previously announced Chicago-area premiere of 'Covenant' by York Walker, which was to be directed by Malkia Stampley, and a new staging of the cult musical 'Ride the Cyclone,' not seen here since its world premiere in 2015, are now off. The theater said it would refund the money of those who bought tickets for the stagings at the city's Copley Theatre. The current production of 'True West' by Paramount in the Copley, recently reviewed in the Tribune, will be allowed to complete its run at the end of the month.
Aurora has seen political change in recent weeks. Former mayor Richard Irvin, who had staked much of the city's future on downtown Aurora becoming a long-term hub for arts and entertainment, was defeated by John Laesch, who is now in office and has said Aurora now faces a gap between revenue and expenses. As the Tribune has reported, Laesch already has canceled plans for the proposed construction of new 4,000-seat music venue to be known as the City of Lights Center, and has said at a public meeting both that the city faced a 'significant hole' between revenue and expenses and that the city's subsidy of the existing historic theater was 'too much.'
The Aurora Civic Center Authority operates (and largely does business as) the Paramount Theatre and has an annual budget of about $31 million. The board of directors is appointed by the mayor. Its CEO Tim Rater said that he had anticipated a flat budget for the coming fiscal year but that the city now has signaled that it was going to significantly reduce the level of its annual support to the theater, which represents about 20% of the Paramount's budget.
'The city has indicated they have a shortfall in their budget and are not going to provide the full $7 million we were anticipating, so we have to look at various ways in which we can save money,' Rater said. 'We are sure we will not be the only community organization that will face these reductions.'
Rater said the main subscription season of Broadway musicals at the theater, the Paramount's theater school and a sit-down production of 'Million Dollar Quartet' currently are unaffected.