The Little Theater That Could

Pensacola Little Theatre (PLT) is small but mighty. You could call it “the little theater that could.” Like the engine from the children’s book, PLT has long prevailed owing to a little positivity and a lot of elbow grease.

The nonprofit organization has a small staff of 10 but is largely kept running by its enduring volunteers.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that we truly are a volunteer-based organization,” said PLT marketing director Ashley McGlothren. “Our directors are volunteers, the whole production team are volunteers and all the actors are volunteers.”

What drives those key background players? McGlothren guesses it’s the sense of community at PLT.

“I think we truly are a family here, and I believe that is what brings them in every day,” she said. “They come in, we all say hi, we eat lunch together. It’s just a really familial environment.”

The streets of early ’90s New York City set the scene for the PLT’s June musical production of Rent. Photo by Ashley McGlothren

PLT’s roots date back to the Pensacola Drama Players. The actors group performed at the San Carlos Hotel in the mid-1920s. However, they were forced to set theatrical dreams aside when the Great Depression hit in 1929. But passion prevailed. The Drama Players returned to community stages after a seven-year hiatus and later incorporated as PLT.

PLT’s chief executive officer Sid Williams-Heath. Photo by Wyeth Augustine

“A community is only as vibrant as its people, its progression and its cultural climate,” said PLT’s chief executive officer Sid Williams-Heath.

The organization is among the longest-consecutive running theater groups in the Southeast, and its home, the Pensacola Cultural Center, is even older.

Originally built in 1911, the center was once the Escambia County Court of Records Building and Jail. It sat abandoned until the late ’90s when the county deeded PLT the property to create a permanent home for the arts in Pensacola.

The atrium lobby may be the historic landmark’s most notable attribute. With views of all three of the building’s levels and up to an expansive sunroof that creates a naturally lit room, the now shining feature was once a courtyard where executions occurred.

The haunting history sometimes welcomes performers of its own.

“When anything goes wrong, we blame Hosea,” McGlothren joked.

Hosea Poole was the last person to be executed in that courtyard on July 31, 1920. PLT staff and volunteers are all too familiar with the haunting presence of Poole and other ghostly guests.

In the late ’90s, PLT moved to the historic Escambia County Court of Records Building and Jail, now the Pensacola Cultural Center. Historically, the organization shuffled from temporary stages and buildings. Today, the center remains its permanent home. Photo courtesy of the Pensacola Little Theatre

“People have claimed to hear bumps in the night, lights go on and off without people messing with them,” she said. “There’s also been a ghost story of people seeing a little girl in a white dress running around the theater.”

But nothing could drive today’s PLT members from their passion, not even ghosts.

“There’s something different in seeing a live performance than just going to watch a movie,” McGlothren said. “A play has a different energy, and I think people are drawn to that.”

“Live performance is captivating,” Williams-Heath echoed. “In a world full of screens and entertainment on demand, theater is the pulse of true experience.”

Each year, PLT produces 10–15 productions across its various series.

The Mainstage and Treehouse series present theater for adult and family-friendly audiences. A Treehouse production, 13: The Musical drew in tweens, teens and parents to the March performance. And in June, popular demand brought Rent to the PLT Mainstage.

5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. Photo courtesy 
of Pensacola Little Theatre

Studio 400 presents an edgy, sometimes racy, dark comedy series for adult audiences. In May, they performed 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, a comedic and liberating call back to the Cold War Era. In October, they’ll perform the satirical play, POTUS, which McGlothren described as “a dark comedy where a group of women who work for the president have to fix something he said in a press conference.”

PLT’s smallest series, in number and stature, the Acorn group, produces theater for young audiences by young actors ages 5–12 with productions like Seussical Jr., which they performed this past June.

For elementary through high school-aged students looking for a place on the stage, PLT’s education department offers acting, musical theater and improv classes. McGlothren, whose daughter attends PLT classes, has seen the benefits of theater education play out in real time — increased confidence and improvements in reading and public speaking skills.

Over the years, PLT has seen its students achieve big-city dreams. Ashley Brown, known for playing the titular character in the Broadway production of Mary Poppins, grew up in Gulf Breeze and performed at PLT as a young actor. Allison Bailey, who starred as Glinda in the Broadway national tour of Wicked, was also a PLT student.

To young thespians, McGlothren says, “Dream big and keep pursuing and look for all the opportunities you can.”

Reaching Young Actors

In addition to scholarship opportunities, Pensacola Little Theatre now offers a completely tuition-free program for community youth. Funded by grants through the Escambia County Children’s Trust, the new program, Character Building through Building Characters, provides transportation to kids from area schools for classes at PLT such as storytelling where they learn about acting and scripts.

For more information on this program and other outreach initiatives, contact Kimberly Scott at outreach@pensacolalittletheatre.com.