Stowe Theatre Guild

Description

The Stowe Theatre Guild is a non-profit volunteer community theatre organization, pledged to present the best local theatre experience in New England and offering diverse, quality productions in a historic facility. For over fifty years, Stowe Theatre’s mission has included drawing from and giving back to our community. The Stowe Theatre Guild is a non-profit volunteer community theatre organization, pledged to present the best local theatre experience in New England and offering diverse, quality productions in a historic facility. For over fifty years, Stowe Theatre’s mission has included drawing from and giving back to our community. Thirteen seasons after the first curtain was raised Stowe Theatre Guild continues to pack the house with quality productions for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike.

STOWE THEATRE GUILD HISTORY

Our theatre started in a barn, and has contributed to the vitality of the performing arts in Stowe for over fifty years. In 1957, The Stowe Playhouse opened at the Baggy Knees Barn with BERNADINE and Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN. In 1964 Jim and Tish Leahy built a new playhouse on the Mountain Road and took the theatre in a new direction. Opening in 1965 with LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE, they continued to produce a full summer season. Kate Jackson and Academy Award® winners Morgan Freeman and Meryl Streep were among the players in those early days. For several years The Green Mountain Guild employed professional actors, and amateur groups filled the intervening years. Bob Lisaius and his Icefire Performance Group took the director’s role in the early 1980’s.

In 1994, Icefire moved performances to the Stowe High School for one season. The following year the newly formed Stowe Theatre Guild contracted with the Town of Stowe, re-establishing the second floor theatre of the Ackley Memorial Building as a performance space named The Town Hall Theatre. Thirteen seasons after the first curtain was raised — fifty one years since players set foot in that barn — Stowe Theatre Guild continues to pack the house with quality productions for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike.