Theater Renames Alley as Iconic Member Turns 100

No longer will the access road running from Hillgrove Avenue to Walker Street (Mary Cattell Drive) west of the Theatre of Western Springs be just “the alley”—it is now Jane Burns Stacy Way, so named by a village resolution to honor the Theatre’s oldest and longest-serving member.

Stacy turned 100 on Monday and was recognized at a theater reception over the weekend.

Stacy joined the troupe in 1944, when it still performed out of the Village Club. Her name is on the theater’s 1951 incorporation papers. She fondly recalls the “Aid a Spade” campaign that helped to build the current theater building in 1961.

“I’ve loved our memories,“ Stacy said. Being in the theater “is my way of growing… I learned so much. The whole family was wonderful.”

She is an icon at the theater for her nearly 70 years of service, some on the stage (as recently at 2010’s “Waiting in the Wings”), but has particular renown as a costume designer and all-around organizer. Members consider her to have been theater founder Mary Cattell’s right-hand woman for many, many years.

“She is our living link to Mary, who is something of a legend around these parts,” said managing director Bill Hammack. “She is a wonderful person.” 

Stacy’s husband Don, who passed away a few years back, was also a longtime active member.

Fellow Western Springs resident Lou Schauer, a friend of Stacy’s since 1957, also praised her work.

“She’s a very vibrant person and a doer,” Schauer said. “She was always good at recruiting people, working with them, being pat of the group and getting things done.”

A post is scheduled to go in the ground to mark the little street’s honorary name, but will have to wait until the ground unfreezes.

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