Cheyenne Little Theatre Players

Vision:

Our vision is to be the CONSISTENT choice of all those seeking quality entertainment.

Mission:

The Cheyenne Little Theatre Players (CLTP) is a nonprofit, community theatre whose mission is to consistently bring high quality, community based theatrical entertainment and education to people of all ages in the tri-state region of Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska.

We offer a year-round season of full-scale productions, including Readers Theatres, and of course, The Old Fashioned Melodrama, which in 2009 will be celebrating its 53nd year. During the season, the CLTP’s volunteers contribute to the group’s successful shows by performing, directing, helping build sets, operating spotlights, ushering, serving concessions, staffing will call and the box office and doing much, much more.

A major focus of the CLTP programs is arts education. For the past eleven summers, the CLTP has sponsored the Cheyenne Theatre Academy for kindergarten through eighth grade students. The CLTP is currently in the process of expanding the academy to include year round classes for adults, as well as youth.

History:

Founded in 1930, the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players (CLTP) is one of the oldest community theatre groups in the United States, as well as one of the oldest continuously operating organizations in Cheyenne. The CLTP achieved 501(c)(3) status in 1940.

In the late 1920s, touring groups that had once regularly performed live in communities throughout the United States slipped into obscurity, their popularity usurped by an increasing interest in broadcast radio and in the cinema. Audiences benefited because radio receivers could be purchased relatively reasonably for home use and admission to “talking pictures” was less expensive than to live performances. Theatres also profited as renting films cost less than paying for booking fees, orchestras, stagehands and other expenses connected with “live” entertainment.

Largely in response to the demise of the touring troupe in the fall of 1929, Mr. William F. DeVere and Mr. Barrie O’Daniels met with the officers of the Cheyenne Women’s Club to discuss forming a little theatre. Mrs. R.J. (Elizabeth) Hofmann, club president, and Mrs. J. D. (Agnes) O’Mahoney, club vice-president, took the idea to their members, who voted to sponsor the project. Soon representatives of twelve local service clubs were involved in the project. They elected Agnes O’Mahoney president of a twelve member board of directors.

The new little theatre presented three one-act plays on May 7, 1930 in the Wyoming Consistory Auditorium. Frederic Hutchison “Bunk” Porter designed the sets. Porter, a well known Cheyenne architect, was to become the creative force behind the group’s sets for many years. Known for their carefully crafted detail, his sets awed both actors and audiences. The organization performed all of its shows in the Wyoming Consistory Auditorium until 1953, when productions moved to the stage of the Lincoln Theatre.

A number of the individuals who helped found the organization served it for many years: William F. DeVere, who directed the group’s first three one-act plays, was a board member for 22 years. Mrs. R. J. Hofmann, active in its creation, was president between 1949 and 1952, then sat on theatre’s advisory board, a three-member body created in the early 1950s. Set designer “Bunk” Porter also joined the advisory board after serving on the board of directors for 22 years. Barrie O’Daniels continued to direct, act, and lend his experience to the group for over 25 years.