The Dayton Playhouse

Mission:

The Dayton Playhouse is a community theatre providing outstanding theatrical productions to Miami Valley audiences of all ages for more than fifty years. The Playhouse is nationally recognized for FutureFest, a festival of new plays.

History:

The Dayton Playhouse has been an active community theatre since 1959.  At that time, we were known as Dayton Community Theatre and we provided family entertainment for our patrons at Longfellow School on Salem Avenue.

Dayton Children’s Theatre was formed in 1962 and continued to grow and flourish through the years.  Later, this program became known as Dayton Playhouse Youtheatre.  The program provided an educational and performance opportunity to Dayton area children and teens.

In 1966, our organization moved into the historic State Theatre in downtown Dayton.  While located in the State Theatre, a second adult group was formed known as Dayton Repertory Theatre, thus filling a need for our actors and audiences interested in experiencing a wider variety of theatrical works.  This group went on to win statewide honors in performance excellence.

After the demolition of the State Theatre in 1970, our groups were moved to a bowling alley on East Third Street, which the City of Dayton had converted into a theatre for our use.  The intimate setting was home to our organization for many years and saw our two adult groups combine and become known as The Dayton Playhouse.

In the summer of 1987, the City of Dayton completed work on our new venue located off Siebenthaler Avenue.  This permanent facility is the pride and joy of the many actors and technicians who volunteer hundreds of hours each year to bring live theatre to our Dayton audiences.

As you can see, the Dayton Playhouse has not only survived through hard times, it has gotten stronger.  The Dayton Playhouse stayed alive during a difficult time recently, as the bridge near Riverside and Siebenthaler was being replaced.  The project took six years to complete and affected our patron base, but through the perseverance of our suppoertive patrons, we survived and stand better than ever.