After more than 50 years of performing in the same location, the Iowa City Community Theatre will lose its performance space after its 68th season.

The performance space, nicknamed “The Barn,” is located on the Johnson County Fairgrounds. Heather Johnson, administrative office manager of the Johnson County Agricultural Association, wrote in an email statement to The Daily Iowan that “The Barn” will be torn down to make room for a more modern, multi-use performance space.

“The Johnson County Agricultural Association has some pretty big and exciting goals that we would like to reach, and one of those is to tear down Building A (The Barn) and Montgomery Hall to make space for the groundbreaking of a new 14,440 square feet event center,” she wrote.

The announcement stating the Iowa City Community Theatre will lose the space was not a surprise to the establishment, Johnson said. The theater was informed of the change in 2020.

“The Iowa City Community Theatre was given verbal notice two years ago that the Johnson County Fairgrounds would not be renewing their lease with us for the building that they lease from us, so this is not new information to them,” she wrote.

Nick Rudzianski, treasurer for the Iowa City Community Theatre, said the theater knew the county had plans to remove “The Barn.” Those in charge of the community theater were, however, recently informed they need to be out a year earlier than they initially planned.

“We were under the impression based on conversations that we were going to have until May of 2024,” Rudzianski said. “We found out within the past month or two that we were going to need to be moved out by May of 2023.”

Johnson County Agricultural Association has guaranteed the theater a home until the end of its current season, which will end May 7, 2023, with the musical Follies by James Goldman, a show about a theater closing.

The Iowa City Community Theatre is the only completely volunteer-run theater company in Iowa City. The company relies heavily on donations of time and money as well as ticket sales to stay afloat, Rudzianski said.

“We get a lot of donations every year from people. You know, that is a large portion of what helps keep us going,” he said. “We really value those who have given their time and effort.”

The company will need continued support from the community while they work toward finding a new space to perform.

Shay Lilienthal, director of the theater’s current production, The Beggar’s Musical, in collaboration with Combined Efforts, has worked with the theater since 2017. Even through the pandemic, she said the Iowa City Community Theatre has been a staple of the community, and the theater is something worth fighting for.

“It’s really been a constant and steady theater. Even through the pandemic, we were trying to make a space for actors and audiences to not lose the magic of theater,” Lilienthal said. “That’s such a valuable piece of art for our city in our community. We need to keep it.”

The loss of “The Barn” is not the end of the theater. No matter where the group calls home in coming years, they plan to continue putting on shows for the community, Rudzianski said.

“We have a lot of people who come to every single show,” he said. “We’re going to likely be a little bit transient, you know, moving space to space, but we are fully committed to have a complete season for our 68 seasons.”

Lilienthal said “The Barn” has never been what makes the theater special — the people are — so it does not matter where the company ends up in the future.

“It’s not like your fancy state-of-the-art theater, but when the people inside of it love you and take care of you and care about who you are not just as an actor, but as a human,” she said. “It could be a rundown shack, and you’d love it.”