Northern Sky Theater Looks to Expand

One of the proposed sketches for Northern Sky Theater by Strang, Inc.

Northern Sky Theater, the new name of American Folklore Theatre, recently submitted a petition for zoning amendment. The petition requests rezoning of a 17-acre parcel of land on the southeast corner of County A & F in Fish Creek to “Commercial.” The parcel is currently zoned “Countryside” and is owned by Stella Maris Parish.

Northern Sky hopes to purchase the land from Stella Maris and build a rehearsal and operations center. While the company will continue to perform its summer season at Peninsula State Park, this project aims to improve its ability to create, produce and support all the aspects of the organization that happen behind the scenes.

“For the past 25 years, we’ve been entertaining thousands of folks with our special brand of musical theater,” stated Artistic Director, Jeffrey Herbst. “Making these musicals takes a ton of preparatory work that happens offsite. The primary element we are missing is a home-base that is customized for doing what we, and only we do: create new musicals written especially for our Door County audiences.”

Northern Sky currently operates from a host of rented facilities spread all over the county.

“The rehearsal space we used for years was not climate-controlled and had no dedicated restrooms,” added Managing Director Dave Maier. “We often find ourselves not knowing if a venue will be available for rent, making it difficult to map out long-term plans for development of the new works that are vital to our future.”

The integrated campus would merge all of Northern Sky’s support operations and house two buildings. The Creative/Support Center (about 14,000 sq. ft.) would include administrative offices, box office functions, practice rooms, and a costume shop. This building would also house a rehearsal space that will be flexible in converting to an intimate, 200-seat performance space. The second building would house a scenery and carpentry shop (about 8,000 sq. ft.).

Should the rezoning request be approved, Northern Sky will appeal to the commission to issue a “Fine Arts Venue” conditional use permit for the property.