New Paramount School of the Arts, with Paul-Jordan Jansen leading the musical theatre program, opens in Aurora this June

In addition to camps, starting in June Paramount will begin offering private lessons and coaching sessions including musical instruments, vocal performance, theater, dance and audition coaching, plus early childhood music classes taught by Kindermusik, the world’s leading provider of music-based education for children from birth through age seven.

Starting in the fall, Paramount will shift from camps to an expanded series of performing arts classes for children as young as six months, with opportunities for adults and seniors as well including special intensives that offer behind-the-scenes looks at Paramount’s Broadway Series productions.

The school will also launch its Musical Theater Institute, offering pre-professional training for high school students that plan to go on to perform professionally or study musical theater in college, led by Paramount fan-favorite Paul-Jordan Jansen, who played the Cowardly Lion in Paramount’s The Wizard of Oz earlier this season, and earned a Jeff Award for Best Actor for his memorable portrayal of Sweeney Todd at Paramount.

“The new Paramount School of the Arts will encourage and train young actors, dancers and musicians for a culture-filled life, nurture the arts in Chicago’s western suburbs and add to the excitement, cultural and economic activity in downtown Aurora,” said Paramount Theatre President and CEO Tim Rater. “Aurora’s downtown will boast a live performing arts and education complex that fills a full city block, serves as an exciting new destination for arts and culture and powers the continued economic revitalization of Aurora’s downtown business district.”

Rater envisioned opening a school of the arts when he interviewed for the position nine years ago. Nearly a decade later, that dream is a reality. Construction crews are more than midway through reconverting the basement and first floor of the former Waubonsee Community College into the new performing arts school. When complete, the facility will encompass over 23,000-square-feet of private and group classroom space, parent lounges, a keyboard lab, a music recording studio and a 1,400-square-foot dance studio.

The school’s crown jewel – a 1,200-square-foot flexible studio theater – will boast retractable seating, with additional balcony seating to accommodate audiences of up to 165 for student performed plays, musicals, dance and live music events. The school is committed to being accessible and affordable to all students, including persons with special needs and from low-income families.

It’s all part of the new John C. Dunham Aurora Arts Center, a project by The Community Builders Inc., a non-profit developer, in partnership with Paramount Theatre, the city of Aurora, Invest Aurora and the Illinois Housing Development Authority. The 80,000-square foot mixed-use development that will also bring a higher end restaurant to downtown Aurora, 38 affordable, loft-style apartments on the second and third floors designed to attract and support working artists in downtown Aurora, and a street-level gallery to display residents’ works of art. In addition, the building will house a new, 8,000-square-foot rehearsal space that replicates the actual size of the Paramount Theatre stage, a first for the company since it began producing its own Broadway Series in 2011. Paramount will receive four guest apartments in the building to house out-of-town actors, directors and designers working on its productions.

The former Waubonsee Community College building was originally the Block and Kuhl Store, built in 1928 by the Aurora Development Company. It is notable for its architectural terra cotta cladding, prism glass transoms above the storefronts and Chicago style windows on the second and third floor. The building became a Carson Pirie and Scott store in 1961. After a major remodeling, the Waubonsee College Extension Center opened in 1986. The building had been vacant since 2011, when the college moved its campus to a new location across the river.

The Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA), led by Rater, already manages the Paramount Theatre, the Copley Theatre and RiverEdge Park, and will now oversee its new education and rehearsal facilities in the new John C. Dunham Aurora Arts Center. The lion’s share of funding for the new school comes via Paramount’s Act 2 Capital Campaign, which is closing in on its $4.5 million goal thanks in part to a $2.5 million gift from the Dunham Fund, and support from other community members.In addition to the new school, the Act 2 campaign is also supporting the current replacement of all 1,888 original seats in the Paramount Theatre, now more than half completed, and the upcoming modernization of the Copley Theatre, Paramount’s 173-seat sister stage in Aurora’s North Island Center.

For information on how to contribute to Paramount’s Act 2 campaign, contact Katie Arko, katiea@paramountarts.com or (630) 723-2484.

Paramount Theatre (ParamountAurora.com), 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora, is the center for performing arts, entertainment and arts education in the second largest city in Illinois.

Paramount opened on September 3, 1931. It was designed by renowned theater architects C.W. and George L. Rapp and is graced with a beautiful Venetian decor with a strong 1930s Art Deco influence. It also was the first air-conditioned building outside of Chicago. From silent films to the first “Talkies,” from Vaudeville to Bobby Vinton, from Dionne to Donny and Marie, Paramount Theatre has provided Aurora and the Fox Valley the best of entertainment for generations.

In 1976, the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA) restored Paramount to its original grandeur. Paramount Arts Centre reopened in 1978, offering a variety of touring theatrical, musical, comedy, dance and family programming. In 2006, a 12,000-square-foot, two-story Grand Gallery lobby was added, including a grand staircase, new box office, café and art gallery.

In 2010, ACCA hired Tim Rater as President and CEO of Paramount Theatre. Rater’s mission was to boost the theater’s programming and audience base by transforming Paramount into one of Chicago’s top self-producing, professional Equity musical theaters. Rater hired award-winning Chicago director Jim Corti as Paramount’s first-ever artistic director. In 2011, Paramount introduced its inaugural four-play Broadway Series with Corti’s critically acclaimed production of My Fair Lady. In just six blockbuster seasons since, Paramount has leapt to the top of Chicago’s musical theater scene, winning unanimous audience and critical acclaim, and an unprecedented number of Joseph Jefferson nominations and awards, including Best Musical-Large three years in a row.

Today, the 1,855-seat Paramount Theatre remains renowned for the quality and caliber of its presentations, historic beauty and superb acoustics. More than 41,000 subscribers from throughout the city and suburbs enjoy Paramount’s Broadway-quality productions at affordable prices, making Paramount the second largest subscription house in the nation. In addition to its Broadway Series, Paramount presents internationally known comedians, music stars, dance events and family shows, and on most Mondays, screens a classic movie for just $1.

Paramount is one of four live performance venues in downtown Aurora programmed and managed by the ACCA, which also oversees Paramount’s “sister” stage, the intimate 173-seat Copley Theatre located across the street from the Paramount at 8 E. Galena Blvd., the soon-to-open Paramount School of the Arts, and RiverEdge Park, downtown Aurora’s summer outdoor concert venue at 360 N. Broadway.

Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority; Jim Corti, Artistic Director, Paramount Theatre; a dedicated Board of Trustees and a devoted staff of live theater and music professionals. For more, visit ParamountAurora.com or call (630) 896-6666.