Performing Arts Center

A Place for Performing Arts to Thrive

On Oakton’s Des Plaines campus, the Performing Arts Center regularly hosts student concerts, events and other in-house performances, in addition to outside productions. Year-round, the building is humming with the sights and sounds of theater, music, comedy and more. We are proud to produce performances that provide diverse opportunities to our students, community members and professionals. Our campus is enriched by the variety of productions that share their art through the Performing Arts Center, and Oakton is glad to be a consistent source of culture and entertainment for our community.

Browse the scheduled events of our current season, learn more about our facilities, and see current audition opportunities below.

See What's Playing

Current Season Calendar
Box Office - Get Tickets

About Our Theaters

The Footlik Theater is our main space for large productions, with 269 audience seats, including three wheelchair-accessible spaces. For more intimate productions and events, the Studio One black-box theater is the perfect fit with its flexible staging. Both performance spaces in the Performing Arts Center are equipped with modernized lighting and audio systems. Learn more about our theater facilities.

Interested in getting behind the scenes and learning more about how the theaters operate? The PAC Tech crew offers rewarding employment and volunteer options for students in an exciting performing arts environment. Join the PAC Tech Crew.

Auditions and Opportunities

Auditions and Opportunities

Oakton Six Piano Ensemble

Box Office Production Assistants

Oakton box office production assistants sell tickets and distribute promotional material on both campuses and in the community. They also do light office work as needed. Hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Friday, and on the nights of performances.

For more information, contact Dan Cunningham at 847.635.1897 or [email protected].

Learn Performing Arts at Oakton

Music

The Performing Arts Center provides our music programs a location for practice and performance on the main stage. Music groups, including our internationally acclaimed Oakton Six Piano Ensemble, Choir, Jazz Band, Guitar, and String Ensembles, take the stage several times a year. Students pursuing a degree or just exploring course work in music enjoy this dedicated "at-home" performance space, which provides valuable music career experience. Learn more about Music programs.

Theater

Students taking courses in the Theater department will come to know the Performing Arts Center as their second home. Whether it's acting, directing, stage movement or technical theater, students have various classes to choose from. And, with an array of fully mounted plays performed each year in our venues, students will have plenty of opportunities to explore the theater arts fully. Explore Oakton's Theater program here.

Speech and Debate

The Performing Arts Center is also home to our Speech and Debate team, where students can improve their debate, public speaking, and oral interpretation skills and compete in regional and nationwide intercollegiate speech tournaments. Every semester students are highlighted in our Performing Arts Speaker Showcase, where our top speech students perform to a larger audience in the Footlik Theater. Find out more about Speech and Debate.