The 2016 season, its 55th, promises to be every bit as entertaining. Among the shows presented during the 2015 season were Mary Poppins, Swing, The Wizard of Oz, the Addams Family and Driving Miss Daisy. It isn't what it used to be but it still beats a night watching most of the motion pictures that are being produced today. But the idea of experiencing Broadway-type entertainment at Sullivan-type prices intrigues many theater-goers who enjoy the relaxing atmosphere of the Downstate community. In recent years, however, the use of professional actors and artistic staff has substantially decreased while more local talent is utilized. I recall seeing Guys and Dolls and The Music Man and Oklahoma. Brown, John Carradine, Cesar Romero, Don Ameche, Forrest Tucker, Leonard Nimoy, Betty Grable, Bill Hayes Ann Miller, Kitty Carlisle, Eddie Bracken and Jean-Pierre Aumont. During Little's era, many famous actors performed in Sullivan, including Mickey Rooney, Alan Alda, Joe E. Located in the heart of Sullivan's town square on Harrison Street, it is the only professional theater between Chicago and St. He continued to bring many plays and musicals to the small town throughout his 22-year stewardship. Little debuted with a "Summer of Musicals" that featured Brigadoon. Little, Jr., came up with the brilliant idea of renting out the theater for the summer months to present plays. Originally opened in 1924 as a movie theater, it was in 1957 that Guy S. LTM is exclusively educational, within the intendment of Section 501(c) 3 of the 1954 United States Internal Revenue Code.The first time I became acquainted with The Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois, was when I was a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, only a short drive away. Halloween Haunted Houses and Christmas Tree Lightings in the square).Īs a non-profit organization, LTM’s purpose is to promote the highest standards in production and appreciation of the theatre arts by conducting a civil, cultural, and educational program. The theatre became a member of the Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and has participated in related community functions, (i.e. LTM has been a member of the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) since 1998. The Theatre became one of the original affiliates of the Allied Arts Fund in 1985. The Theatre remains an all-volunteer organization in every other aspect of production and operations. LTM hired its first part-time, salaried worker in 1998 to improve Box Office operations. A Playwrights’ Workshop was established under the umbrella of LTM in 1998. The first show documented to have been performed on the stage was an original Christmas production. It is the only professional theater between Chicago and St. It is located in the heart of Sullivan’s town square on Harrison Street. Since its inception, the Theatre has read or performed original works. The Little Theatre on the Square is a theater in Sullivan, Illinois. With the early renovations, the building lost its historical status, but gained much needed and valued space. By 2004, the 10,000 square-foot building had fallen into serious disrepair and suffered. Over the past three decades, many additions and improvements to the building have been made possible by volunteers and charitable contributions from corporations and individuals, including: two lobby spaces with restrooms for patrons, two dressing rooms with a restroom for the cast, a light booth, new seats and a new sound system. The Ghosts of the Tulsa Little Theatre, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The original brick outhouse (now used to store lawn and garden tools) served as the only restroom for both audiences and actors. Actors had to change costumes in cars, warmed themselves in the winter by a small fire in the parking lot, and entered the stage directly from the outdoors. Up until the 1970s, there were no dressing rooms or indoor restrooms. The schoolhouse, built in 1863, became the Theatre house, with only a pot-bellied coal stove providing heat during the winter months. The one-room, red-brick Kohlertown School House building, located at 915 South York Street, Mechanicsburg, was purchased in 1964 for ten dollars. The group’s enthusiasm led to incorporation as the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg in 1950. Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg thrives as an all-volunteer community theatre because the volunteers have the same spirit and love for theatre today that began with a small group of people who loved theatre and met at the Mechanicsburg Junior High School to read plays in the late 1940s.
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