The Waynesboro Little Theatre began a memorable stage era at Borough Hall in 1955
By Robb Helfrick
When the Waynesboro Little Theatre staged plays 71 years ago, the energy infused into the theatrical process and the talent that went into each production were anything but little. This dramatic ensemble built sets, created costumes, and tirelessly rehearsed their acting craft. These imaginative efforts produced entertaining scenes that charmed Waynesboro audiences for two decades.
When the theatre’s final curtain came down, the troupe left behind a trio of green-bound albums filled with memories, documenting the delights that their artistic passion and community collaboration brought them. Those Waynesboro Little Theatre scrapbooks preserved stories of local history.
In 1955, Waynesboro residents had several choices for nighttime entertainment. The Red Run Drive-in Theatre offered big-screen movies such as “Indiscretion of an American Wife,” starring Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift, seen for $1.50 per carload. The outdoor venue also hosted Sunday morning services conducted by Waynesboro’s Methodist Church. “Drive in and worship from your car,” the church suggested.
At the Arcade Theatre downtown, a pairing of the Disney classic “Lady and the Tramp” screened with the film “Strange Lady in Town,” starring Greer Garson. The Arcade also hosted a fashion review with the latest styles worn by Waynesboro modeling talent.
Aspiring members of the Waynesboro Little Theatre first met in October 1950, and they staged their first play in April 1951. They chose “Ten Little Indians” for their debut performance and paid a $100 royalty to a New York City publisher to present the play to the public as amateurs. WLT’s intended purpose was to “foster study and practice in acting and directing, makeup, design and construction of scenery, staging, and other aspects of dramatic art.”
The theatre group negotiated an agreement with Waynesboro’s Superintendent of Schools to use the Senior High School auditorium for night rehearsals and scheduled weekend performances. After staging five plays in 1951-52, WLT’s president noted the group had already built an impressive stable of actors and production people.
The group held auditions at Borough Hall, and as the 1955 season began, they dreamed that familiar venue could host future productions. Waynesboro’s architectural icon began as the Academy of Music in 1881 and served as a fire hall and a movie theater for many decades.
In January 1955, Borough Hall’s second-floor space housed the Alexander Hamilton Memorial Free Library. When the library’s next-door move concluded that spring, WLT’s leadership approached the town about renting and renovating the upstairs space and returning it to a performance venue.
As lease negotiations with the borough continued (WLT proposed a rent of $50 per month), its shows needed to go on stage as scheduled. On April 21 and 23, a well-rehearsed cast, along with makeup artists, set designers, and stagehands, brought “Chicken Every Sunday” to life at the high school.
This three-act comedy originated from a 1944 play, later adapted into a 1949 motion picture. Ads for the play, which cost $1.25 to attend, promised laughs for less than one cent apiece. The story centered on an Arizona couple’s attempts to make ends meet through a series of money-making schemes while living with eccentric boarders.
The Waynesboro play starred Frances Lower as Mrs. Emily Blachman and Jared McKown as Mr. Jim Blachman. A local review said WLT’s 21 actors “Went rollicking through the humorous lines of the comedy to the enjoyment of the audience. The Little Theatre brings down the curtain with another hit in an exceptionally artistic season.”
The Record Herald described Chicken Every Sunday as a “highly amusing farce.” Memorabilia preserved in the group’s photo album displayed a signed playbill, local newspaper promos, and black-and-white photographs showing the actors and backstage crew in action. The WLT archivists also kept meticulous records of expenditures and tracked the financial success of each production.
Meanwhile, WLT President Arnold Roschli inked a lease agreement with Waynesboro’s government. The theatre group then embarked on an ambitious project to restore a past era within the Borough Hall.
The Waynesboro Little Theatre’s plan called for removing a wall between the stage and auditorium, adding 200 seats, restoring the dressing rooms and the stage, and rewiring the space while adding theatrical lighting. The borough agreed to install a fire escape and repaint the walls. The renovation budget totaled $5,000.
The Waynesboro Little Theatre hosted a pre-play open house on November 13, 1955. The renovated Borough Hall theater offered less seating compared to the high school auditorium, so WLT planned seven performances for a show titled “Pink String and Sealing Wax.” Newspaper ads promoting the play urged fans to make reservations early, with tickets available at Ervin’s Bookstore in Center Square.
Pink String and Sealing Wax was a British play set in the 1880s, and later adapted into a 1945 film. The title derived from the practice of pharmacists during the Victorian era of wrapping prescriptions in a package tied with pink string and sealed with wax to signal the drugs were safe and tamper-proof. This premise led to a poisonous murder mystery centered around a strict father and his three children.
The Waynesboro rendition starred Jack Geiger as the stern and humorless father, Edward Strachan, and Hester Lewis Eyler portrayed his sweet wife, Myra. For this local PSSW production, Mary Steiner Snyder directed the performance.
In the etiquette of that era, the first names of married women were rarely mentioned in print. Mary Snyder’s husband, Sylvester, was a noted Waynesboro photographer. On this occasion, when his wife earned press accolades for her directorial talents, she was named in the paper’s Society News as Mrs. Sylvester Snyder.
The polished performance entertained local audiences. However, many behind-the-scenes efforts likely went unrecognized by WLT’s patrons. Miss Ethel Moore organized a costume department to secure and create period clothing that mimicked various styles for each play’s particular era. For one play, they fashioned 18 different dresses. Sometimes, the costume committee searched for bolts of material at woolen mills, raided local attics, or attended rummage sales. At other times, they remodeled outfits from prior shows.
For Pink String and Sealing Wax, the costumers successfully recreated 1880s men’s fashions (outfits they usually rented) and saved $300 from their budget. The play entertained 682 Waynesborians and earned $370.71.
When the 1955-56 season ended, WLT posted a perfect balance sheet for their year-end accounting. They showed expenditures of $2994.52 and receipts for the same amount.
The Waynesboro Little Theatre continued performances for another decade. They produced other plays more familiar to contemporary theater lovers, such as “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams.
However, as WLT productions attracted sparser audiences in the mid-1960s, this declining public support demoralized the talented staff and led to declining WLT membership.
One local theater columnist expressed her lament for WLT’s coming fate, saying: “In the wings stand the ghosts of a little band, greasepaint dripping, script in hand. In vain, they offer to pass on the burning torch of talent, the dynamic culture of theatre in the home community. But no apprentice hands are waiting to seize the torch. Its flame falters and grows dim.”
The footlights for the Waynesboro Little Theatre flickered and finally went out in February 1967. The group put all their prized possessions up for auction. The Record Herald described the public sale as a “sad occasion,” and the auctioneer withdrew two major items- 175 theatre seats and the stage curtain- when no one met the asking price. Waynesboro High School’s drama instructor purchased many of the costumes, but the Totem Pole Playhouse bought several items, and the Gettysburg Playhouse did too.
To one Little Theatre member, the auction was “like selling the effects of a deceased loved one.”
The sale netted $687 after expenses. The group decided to spend the proceeds by binding the three scrapbooks and donating the remaining funds to the library.
Despite the dismal final curtain call for Waynesboro’s Little Theatre, the group accomplished much during its run, entertaining thousands who were fortunate to enjoy the fruits of a stand-alone theater company in a community of Waynesboro’s size.
Today, the Wayne Band, which traces its founding in Waynesboro to 1899, still holds weekly practices at Borough Hall. The group stows its brass instruments in the same second-floor space where WLT once performed. This tradition upholds the building’s original purpose as the Academy of Music, once home to a theatre company that named itself little but performed bigger-than-life productions 70 years ago.
