The History of Greenwood Little Theatre

Greenwood Little Theatre has been an integral part of our community since its inception in 1956, officially becoming a non-profit organization in 1961. Our journey began with a passionate community group, paving the way for what would become a cornerstone of local culture. In 1966, our dedication to the arts culminated in the construction of the W.M. Whittington, Jr. Playhouse, providing a dedicated space for our performances.

From the outset, Greenwood Little Theatre has been a melting pot of talent, bringing together individuals from all walks of life to create compelling theatrical experiences. Our repertoire has ranged from enchanting musicals to poignant dramas, from uproarious comedies to gripping mysteries, captivating audiences throughout the decades.

Initially, our productions found a home at North Greenwood School, later renamed Kathleen Bankston Elementary School. However, the establishment of the W.M. Whittington Jr. Playhouse in 1967, located at 707 Sycamore St., marked a significant milestone in our history. Named in honor of President Emeritus Bill Whittington, this 200-seat venue became synonymous with exceptional theater experiences.

In 2021, Greenwood Little Theatre embarked on a new chapter by relocating to the Davis Auditorium at 400 Cotton Street. This move symbolized our commitment to growth and innovation, although it meant bidding farewell to the beloved W.M. Whittington Jr. Playhouse, which had been an integral part of our identity for many years.

Throughout our journey, Greenwood Little Theatre has not only entertained but also enriched our community and beyond. We've provided a platform for aspiring theater enthusiasts to hone their craft, while delivering unparalleled live amateur theater experiences to our audience members.

Our history stands as a testament to our enduring dedication to excellence in entertainment. We invite you to join us in shaping our future successes, whether it's through participation on stage, behind the scenes, or as a cherished member of our audience.

Come, be a part of our journey - we eagerly anticipate welcoming you into the vibrant world of Greenwood Little Theatre!

List of Previous Productions

Highlighted titles contain links to digital programs or lobby posters.

2024 - Season 69

Clue: On Stage by Sandy Rustin

The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry

The Enchanted Bookshop by Todd Wallinger

Showtime! A Senior Queen’s Showcase (GLT Fundraiser)

2023 - Season 68

Glitz: The Little Miss Christmas Pageant Musical by Bert Bernardi and Justin Rugg

The Iliad, The Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology in 99 Minutes or Less by Jay Hopkins and John Hunter

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry

Seussical, JR. by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty

2022 - Season 67

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry

Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

2021 - Season 66

Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley

2020 - Season 65

No productions this year.

2019 - Season 64

Annie by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin

Richard Hooker’s M*A*S*H

Shakespeare Summer Scene Fest

Ragtime by Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty

Almost, Maine by John Cariani

2018 - Season 63

Dreamgirls by Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger

Laundry and Bourbon / Lonestar by James McLure

Shakespeare Summer Scene Fest

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

2017 - Season 62

Wait Until Dark: A Thriller by Frederick Knott

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash

Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams

Shakespeare Summer Scene Fest

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

Love Letters by A.R. Gurney

2016 - Season 61

The Good Doctor by Neil Simon

On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Shakespeare Summer Scene Fest

Neil Simon's Plaza Suite

2015 - Season 60

The Butler Did It by Tim Kelly

The Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig

Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare

The Producers, A New Mel Brooks Musical

2014 - Season 59

Curiosity Cat by Chris Grabenstein

Rumors by Neil Simon

Into the Woods by James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim

2013 - Season 58

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Vintage Hitchcock: A Radio Play

Mama Won't Fly by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten

Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig

Smokey Joe's Cafe by Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller

2012 - Season 57

The Last Five Years by Jason Robert

Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne, Glyn Robbins

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Dixie Swim Club by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten

2011 - Season 56

Dearly Beloved by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten

Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Buddy Holly Story by Alan Janes

2010 - Season 55

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Nunsense by Dan Goggin

Noises Off by Michael Frayn

The Breakfast Club by John Hughes

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music

2009 - Season 54

Beauty and the Beast by Alan Menken, Tim Rice, Howard Ashman

No Time for Sergeants by Ira Levin

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change by Joe DiPietro

2008 - Season 53

Broadway Review

3 One Acts by Tennessee Williams

Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

Bus Stop by William Inge

2007 - Season 52

A Tuna Christmas by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, Jaston Williams

Gypsy by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents

The Music Man by Meredith Willson

First Baptist of Ivy Gap by Ron Osborne

2006 - Season 51

Three One Act Plays

Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, Lee Adams

Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by Carol Hall, Larry L. King, Peter Masterson

Dearly Departed by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones

2005 - Season 50

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner

Harvey by Mary Chase

Marriage to an Older Woman

Bullshot Crummond by Ron House, Alan Shearman, Diz White, John Neville Andrews, Derek Cunningham

2004 - Season 49

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling

The Lion in Winter by James Goldman

2003 - Season 48

Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser and Jo Swerling

Godspell by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

2002 - Season 47

The Exact Center of the Universe by Joan Vail Thorne

The Foreigner by Larry Shue

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward

Love Letters by A.R. Gurney

2001 - Season 46

Don't Dress For Dinner by Marc Camoletti, Robin Hawdon

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Once Upon a Mattress

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

A Gentleman from Mississippi by David Dallas

Drop Dead Please

2000 - Season 45

Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfred Uhry

Diary of Anne Frank by by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

See How They Run by Philip King

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey

Oliver by Lionel Bart

1999 - Season 44

Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, Lee Adams

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

Romance: Puccini to Porter

Putting on Heirs by Michal Jacot

1998 - Season 43

Marvin's Room by Scott McPherson

Who's On First by Jack Sharkey

Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare

You Can't Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

1997 - Season 42

The Octette Bridge Club by P.J. Barry

Man of LaMancha by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion

M*A*S*H by Tim Kelly, Richard Hooker

USO on Tour

1996 - Season 41

I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick

Cheaper By the Dozen, Adapted by Christopher Sergel

Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Tim Kelly

Nunsense by Dan Goggin

1995 - Season 40

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry

Murder in the Magnolias by Tim Kelly

The Fantasticks by Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

1994 - Season 39

Hot 'n' Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration! by Mark Waldrop, Cole Porter, David Armstrong, Bruce W. Coyle

The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell

Forty Carats by Jay Presson Allen

Sorry! Wrong Chimney! by Leo W. Sears, Jack Sharkey

1993 - Season 38

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler

Second Time Around by Henry Denker

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music

1992 - Season 37

Neil Simon's Rumors

The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Hello, Dolly! by Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman

Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie

1991 - Season 36

The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash

Wizard of Oz

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling

Songs of Rogers & Hammerstein

1990 - Season 35

The Nerd by Larry Shue

The Foreigner by Larry Shue

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific

1989 - Season 34

In Berlin

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin

The Ponder Heart by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov

Legends! by James Kirkwood

1988 - Season 33

Greater Tuna by Ed Howard, Joe Sears, Jaston Williams

Carnival! by Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill

On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson

The Odd Couple (Female Version) by Neil Simon

Broadway: Then & Now

1987 - Season 32

Sweet Charity by Neil Simon

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Morning's At Seven by Paul Osborn

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Broadway: Music of Lifetime

Miss Firecracker Contest by Beth Henley

1986 - Season 31

Laura

My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner

Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley

Broadway in the 80's

1985 - Season 30

Fourposter by Jan de Hartog

Private Lives by Noël Coward

A Thurber Carnival by James Thurber

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

1984 - Season 29

Second Lady

Annie by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin

Heaven Can Wait by Harry Segall

Dial "M" for Murder by Frederick Knott

1983 - Season 28

Chapter II

Li'l Abner by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank

1982 - Season 27

Guys And Dolls by Frank Loesser and Jo Swerling

Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn

Good Morning, Miss Dove by William McCleery, Frances G. Patton

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

1981 - Season 26

Vanities by Jack Heifner

Subject to Change by Jules Tasca

Pretzels by John Forster, Judith Kahan, Jane Curtin, Fred Grandy

6 RMS RIV VU by Bob Randall

The Music Man by Meredith Willson

1980 - Season 25

The Fantasticks by Harvey Schmidt

By George by Michael Voysey

Bell, Book and Candle by John Van Druten

1979 - Season 24

Kiss Me Kate by Samuel and Bella Spewack

The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon

Everybody Loves Opalby John Patrick

Oliver by Charles Dickens

1978 - Season 23

Dear Charles by Alan Melville

Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher

Life With Father by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

George Washington Slept Here by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

Finishing Touches by Jean Kerr

1977 - Season 22

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie

Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams

The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel

1976 - Season 21

Five One Acts

1776 by Sherman Edwards

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward

Man of LaMancha

The Solid Gold Cadillac by George S. Kaufman & Howard Teichmann

1975 - Season 20

Everything in the Garden by Edward Albee

Butterflies Are Free by Leonard Gershe

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

1974 - Season 19

Witness for the Prosecution

Peter Pan, Adapted by John Simons

Fiddler on the Roof

Absence of Cello by Ira Wallach

3 One Act Plays

Forty Carats, Adapted by Jay Presson Allen

1973 - Season 18

Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon

Play It Again, Sam by Woody Allen

1972 - Season 17

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill

The Potting Shed by Graham Greene

Damn Yankees

1971 - Season 16

Don't Drink the Water by Woody Allen

The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

Plaza Suite by Neil Simon

The Lion in Winter by James Goldman

1970 - Season 15

Luv by Murray Schisgal

Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott

Babes In Arms by Richard Rodgers

1969 - Season 14

Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder

The Boy Friend by Sandy Wilson

Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon

1968 - Season 13

Harvey by Mary Chase

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The Girls in 509 by Howard Teichmann

1967 - Season 12

You Can't Take It With You by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon

Come Blow Your Horn by Neil Simon

1966 - Season 11

Mary Mary by Jean Kerr

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Never Too Late by Sumner Arthur Long

1965 - Season 10

Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton

Susan Slept Here by Alex Gottlieb and Steve Fisher

Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin

1964 - Season 9

Critic's Choice by Ira Levin

Night Must Fall by Emlyn Williams

Champagne Complexby Leslie Stevens

1963 - Season 8

Dear Charles by Alan Melville

Affairs of State by Louis Verneuil

The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman

1962 - Season 7

Nude With Violin by Noël Coward

Laura by Vera Caspary and George Sklar

The Curious Savage by John Patrick

Lo and Behold! by John Patrick

1961 - Season 6

Light Up the Sky by Moss Hart

Mr. Pim Passes By, Written by A. A. Milne

Parlor Story by William McCleery

1960 - Season 5

The Tender Trap by Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith

Jane by S. N. Behrman

The Case of the Crushed Petunias, A Lyrical Fantasy by Tennessee Williams

1959 - Season 4

Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward

1958 - Season 3

Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor

Poor Aubrey by George Kelly

The Red Barn

1957 - Season 2

My Three Angels by Samuel Spewack and Bella Spewack

Solid Gold Cadillac by Howard Teichmann and George S. Kaufman

The Clod by Lewis Beach

1956 - Season 1

Dear Ruth by Norman Krasna

Evening Dress Indispensable: An Utterly Nonsensical Playlet in One Act by Roland Pertwee