History:
As a non-profit organization, Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg's purpose is to promote the highest standards in production and appreciation of the theatre arts by conducting a civil, cultural, and educational program. Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg is exclusively educational, within the intendment of Section 501(c) 3 of the 1954 United States Internal Revenue Code.
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. The group's enthusiasm led to incorporation as the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg in 1950.
The one-room, red-brick Kohlertown School House building, located at 915 South York Street, Mechanicsburg, was purchased in 1964 for ten dollars. The schoolhouse, built in 1863, became the Theatre house, with only a pot-bellied coal stove providing heat during the winter months.
Up until the 1970s, there were no dressing rooms or indoor restrooms. 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. The original brick outhouse (now used to store lawn and garden tools) served as the only restroom for both audiences and actors.
