Shawnee Little Theater
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| The Shawnee Little Theatre group was organized 1967. Their first
play was presented in the parish hall of Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The
2nd and 3rd were in Federal National Bank's Penthouse. Then in the summer
of 1969, the group was offered the use of the mansion at 624 N. Broadway
for a nominal fee.
Ronny Jones, President of SLT told that the members had torn out three walls and built one. They put up paneling in parts of the auditorium and foyer and carpeted and decorated the lobby-refreshment area. They also made changes to the backstage area to be used as storage and dressing rooms. Extensive painting was done, 2 new air conditioners were added and new plumbing was installed in the rest rooms. The house had two stories with at least 30 rooms. It was built as before the turn of the (20th) century as Shawnee's first two family residence. It was originally owned by two men from the East who modeled it after the duplexes they were familiar with in their hometown. The men had brought in their own architect to oversee the construction. Mrs Don Cochran lived in half of the house with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. L Roebuck, Pott County pioneers. Some of her memories of the house were: a mother-of-pearl mantel over the fireplace, speaking tubes in all the rooms--similar to an intercom system--you got the attention of others by whistling in the tube. The basement was divided into three large rooms separated by huge oak doors covered with iron grillwork. Extracted from an article in the OKLAHOMAN
dated Sept 21, 1969.
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| A drive
to raise money for a new building for the SHAWNEE LITTLE THEATRE
started in 1974 and the group received $25,000 in pledges. Gene Rainbolt,
chairman of the board of Federal National Bank, and Ross Porter, editor
and publisher of the SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR, directed a new capital funds drive.
The campaign was kicked off with a $25,000 challenge grant from the W.P.
Wood Charitable Trust, and a $15,000 grant from the state Bicentennial
Commission boosted the funds. The drive was further enhanced when
actress Carol Channing arrived in Shawnee in January, 1976 to give a benefit
performance to Shawnee Little Theatre.
Open house for SLT's new building was held on Sunday, August 8, 1976. The cost of the building was $145,000 and it was the first permanent home for the theatre after 6 seasons. Pat Snider was managing director and one of the founders of Shawnee Little Theatre. The new 70 x 120 foot theater seated 195 in a three-quarter round or 250 in a complete round. The new theatre's first show was the premier performance of the musical, "WILL ROG," (a musical biography of Will Rogers) written by Oklahoma State University professor, Jeanne Adams Wray. Extracted from the DAILY OKLAHOMAN, August 9, 1976. |