The Lantern Theater Company is making progress on an expansion to Northwest Philadelphia, with a planned 2027 opening of its Mt. Airy theater.

The new theater will be the former Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church on Germantown Avenue. The building is currently undergoing renovations, which began in March and will take approximately 12 months. To pay for renovations and other expenses, the Lantern is in the middle of a $4 million capital campaign.

The Lantern plans to hold a series of short programs as soft opening events in the late spring and summer of 2027, followed by a grand opening in early October with the Philadelphia premiere of a major American play set in Germantown.

According to Stacy Maria Dutton, executive director of the Lantern, this is an exciting time for the theater company.

“We’re obviously thrilled that we now have such good visibility on when we’re going to be able to host these soft opening events and the grand opening in the fall,” Dutton said. “We just hope to extend our existing relationships in Northwest Philadelphia and make new ones.”

A second location

The Lantern has been producing plays at St. Stephen’s Theater in Center City since 1994. In 2023, the organization secured a long-term lease for the former Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church with an option to purchase. The Lantern had previously rented other venues over the years for a variety of artistic and educational programming, but this was costly and operationally difficult. Having a second theater was on the organization’s bucket list for a long time.

Although the Mt. Airy theater is set to open next year, Dutton says the Lantern will still operate in St. Stephen’s Theater as well.

“It’s a little hard for some folks to wrap their minds around because no other theater companies in Philadelphia” operate in two locations, Dutton said. “There are smaller companies who do rentals around in different theaters and there are other cities, for example, like New York and London, where theater companies do operate in different locations and neighborhoods. But we’ll be the first in Philadelphia.”

As part of the renovations, the Mt. Airy theater will be outfitted with a lighting grid, risers, and new seating. There will be 180 seats, sharing a similar intimacy to St. Stephen’s Theater (150 seats). The plans for the interior renovations also include new HVAC, public bathrooms on the main and lower levels, and modern facilities for the actors and stage management crew. Outside of adding signage on the theater, no outdoor construction is needed.

Dutton said the Mt. Airy theater will increase access to live theater outside of Center City.

“In a city of 1.5 million people and a greater metropolitan area of six million people, not everybody can or wants to go to Center City for everything,” Dutton said.

Furthermore, the theater will increase access in more ways than geographically. The former Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church has an accessibility entrance with a ramp, unlike St. Stephen’s Theater.

‘Activating the avenue’

Just a few blocks down from the new Mt. Airy location is Quintessence Theatre Group’s home at the Sedgwick Theater. Instead of worrying about stepping on each other’s toes, Dutton sees this as an opportunity for both theaters to “be additive in activating the avenue.”

“There’s restaurants, there’s stores, there’s a lot of great things happening on the avenue, but critical mass helps,” Dutton said. “It helps people to think of a certain neighborhood as a destination. I think this is going to be a case of one plus one is more than two in terms of what we hope will be a positive experience for the neighborhood.”

Dutton herself lives in Mt. Airy, along with several other Lantern colleagues such as artistic director Charles McMahon. This adds a personal element to the homecoming.

“Having a new performance space in our neighborhood is very, very meaningful and we’re just really personally thrilled about that,” Dutton said.

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.