The Shady Lane Playhouse. You could get a great dinner and see a live show for a reasonable price. It was torn down in 2016. Rte 20 west of Marengo Il.

I worked at Shady Lane in the late 1970s as a part-time bartender, kitchen helper, and theater house manager. The restaurant is toward the bottom of the photo, closest to US 20 running from the lower left corner up toward the right. The theater was the barn that is just above the exact center of the photo. Attached to the theater barn was a substantial gift shop that can be seen as the low square building to the right of the barn. The operation was a real assembly line. Packages were sold to groups (the tour busses can be seen parked in the upper left of the photo) that unloaded en masse. Everyone arrived at the same time, wanted their cocktails at the same time, followed by food, and followed by the curtain in the theater. Dinner was served separately from the play. Some days there were two performances: a matinee and an evening performance. It was pretty run-of-the-mill summer stock stuff, but the actors were reasonably accomplished with one regular nominated for a Jefferson when I worked there. It was my first exposure to live, professional theater, a love I retain to this day. I'm still a frequent theater goer years after I moved back to Chicago.