Guide to the Dayton Playhouse Collection

History of Dayton Playhouse

The Dayton Playhouse has been an active community theatre since 1959. It began as the City of Dayton operated, Dayton Community Theatre (DCT) providing family entertainment at various venues throughout the city, but primarily at the Longfellow School on Dayton's, Salem Avenue.

Soon after its founding, the Community Theatre and the Dayton Board of Recreation decided it should present more opportunities in drama for Dayton area children and teens. The Dayton Children's Theatre was formed in 1962, eventually adding a separate Teen Theatre and finally amalgamating the two into the YouTheatre in the 1980s.

In 1966, the organization moved into the historic State Theatre in downtown Dayton. While there, a second adult group known as the Dayton Repertory Theatre (DRT) formed. The Repertory Theatre presented a wider array of theatrical works outside the DCT's musicals and "lighter" dramatic fare. Throughout its history the Dayton Repertory Theatre went on to win numerous statewide honors in performance excellence.

After the demolition of the State Theatre in 1970, the two adult companies and the children's theatre moved to a bowling alley on East Third Street, which the City of Dayton renovated and converted into a theatre. This setting was home to the organization for seventeen years. Also during the 1970s, the term Dayton Playhouse started to be used as the name for the building in which all the aforementioned theatres performed. It is at this time that stationary and letterhead began bearing the header The Dayton Playhouse.

Before the 1984-85 season, the Repertory Theatre and Community Theatres merged to become, simply, the Dayton Playhouse with a mixed season of musicals and more serious dramas. In the summer of 1987, the City of Dayton completed work on a new venue at the Riverbend Arts Center on Siebenthaler Avenue. This permanent facility has been the organization's home ever since.

The most identifiable and successful tradition in the Playhouse's fifty year history is Future Fest. Future Fest, which began in 1991, is an annual playwriting festival which attracts submissions from myriad budding playwrights and today continues to be one of the Playhouse's most well-attended events. Also in the 1980s, the Playhouse became a completely privately funded organization.

At their current home, in the Riverbend Arts Center, the Dayton Playhouse, as it is now called, continues to present a variety of theatrical productions each season.

Scope and Content

The Dayton Playhouse Collection documents one of Dayton's longest lasting cultural institutions. Because of the number of different theatres operating at one time under the auspices of the Dayton Playhouse, series have been separated to chronicle the development of those organizations. The last organization to appear as a series is the larger Dayton Playhouse Inc. series. Even though it is customary to put larger collections first in a series, Dayton Playhouse Inc. is last, as it will continue to grow through the donation of additions, and therefore will be easier to process, i.e., renumbering boxes, files, etc.

Series I, Dayton Community Theatre, captures the early years of the theatre's history. The first subseries, Shows, includes everything related to a particular production from 1959 through the mid-1980s. Also included in this series are the administrative records of DCT, involving board minutes and other committee meeting minutes, as well as any administrative topics, such as trying to find a new home for the Dayton Community Theatre. The third subseries, Special Events, encompasses everything from awards ceremonies and theatre picnics, to anniversary banquets and workshops. Financial records follow, which includes yearly and monthly records. And finally, correspondence, records the various communications between board, community, city, and theatre members. Within each subseries, topics are organized alphabetically. Within most folders, chronological order exists.

The next four series follow essentially the same order as the first. A significant break in series organization comes with Series V, Photographs, Slides, and Negatives. Here images are ordered first by organization, then by subject, then arranged chronologically. The same follows suit with negatives and slides, the following two subseries.

The next series, Film and Video, contains numerous video recordings, primarily of shows, but also some award banquets, and workshops. Again, these are arranged first, by Theatre, then by subject, then chronologically.

The last series in this collection is Scrapbooks, Posters, and Oversize photographs. The first three scrapbooks span the years 1959 through 1980, encompassing only the Dayton Community Theatre. There are no scrapbooks for any other organization, e.g. Dayton Repertory Theatre. These scrapbooks contain programs, photos, advertisements, reviews etc. Also in this series is Posters. These posters too, span the early years through the 1990s. The last in this series is oversized photos, these are pictures taken of various productions, that are larger than 8.5" x 11."

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Places:

Preferred Citation

[Box #, Folder #], Dayton Playhouse Collection, MS-339, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries web site at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/41.

Detailed Description of The Collection