#GREENVILLE LITTLE THEATRE SUMMER CAMP MOVIE#

The Greenville Woman’s College, where the theatre had first performed, had since merged with Furman University in 1955 and moved to its current site north of town. Productions such as Life With Father, South Pacific, You Can’t Take It With You, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The King and I, and The Miracle Worker helped establish the theatre’s reputation for excellence.Īfter 15 years, it became clear that GLT had outgrown the makeshift facility on Lowndes Hill Road, so the Board of Directors began a search for land to build a new theatre. Talented local performers were joined by New York professionals, such as John Randolph, Murray Matheson, George Matthews, Renato Cibelli, Gene Hollmann, and Mary Ann Cannon. The theatre flourished over the next decade and a half, gaining a national reputation and attracting visitors from all across the region. McLane was persuaded to give up his high school job and become the full-time director of the theatre, and on March 8, 1948, the doors swung wide as 450 audience members entered the theatre's new home. Greenville responded generously, raising $25,000 for renovations, as well as volunteering countless hours to refurbish the facility.

#GREENVILLE LITTLE THEATRE SUMMER CAMP MOVIE#

The perfect solution came with the purchase of an Air Force Glider Base movie theatre on Lowndes Hill Road, vacant since the end of the war. With steadily increasing attendance, scheduling at the high school became difficult. A local critic at the time said, 'I don't know what Joanne Woodward's artistic ambitions are, but she is a born actress.' McLane directed the family drama, I Remember Mama, featuring a talented young high school student. They performed in any local auditorium boasting a stage, such as Greenville High School and the Carolina Movie Theatre, but most frequently on the stage of the Woman's College.Īfter WWII, the Greenville Little Theatre reorganized with renewed vigor and began presenting plays in the Greenville High School Auditorium, where Robert McLane, head of Speech, Art, and Drama, directed several plays. Two years later the theatre group renamed itself 'Community Little Theatre' and later, 'Greenville Little Theatre.' They presented one to four plays annually for the next several years, rehearsing in either the Poinsett Hotel or the Christ Church Parish House.

Just a few months after that fateful discussion, the 'Greenville Artists Guild' presented its first performance in the Ramsey Fine Arts Auditorium on the campus of the Greenville Woman's College. The goal of these civic-minded artists was the creation of fine art, focused not on commercial purposes, but rather, on artistic, historical, or political content. These progressive citizens enlisted the help of Columbia’s Town Theatre, which had only just begun 7 years earlier, and the groups gathered at the Greenville Library on Main Street to discuss the process involved with the creation of Greenville's own local theatre.

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical Girl Friend premiered in NYC, the play Chicago (which would become the well-known musical Chicago) was on Broadway, Harry Houdini was delighting audiences with his daring feats of magic, the weather map made its premier on national television - and here in Greenville, SC, seventy-five devoted men and women were working hard to “develop the art, culture, and drama which for so long has lain dormant'. The year was 1926 and some iconic things were taking place in the country.

Greenville little theatre summer camp