History

 

History

1946-1951
Performances were in various Springfield locations before the building at 101 E. Lawrence was built, including the Hotel Abraham Lincoln, Illinois Building Auditorium, Knights of Columbus Auditorium, Hay-Edwards School and the Playhouse at 15th & Laurel. Abe Lincoln in Illinois; All My Sons; Angel Street; Command Decision; Craig’s Wife; Dear Ruth; Family Upstairs; Goodbye My Fancy; Guest in the House; Holiday; John Loves Mary; Light Up the Sky; The Little Foxes; Love Rides the Rails; The Male Animal; The Man Who Came to Dinner; My Sister Eileen; The Ninth Guest; Only an Orphan Girl; Petrified Forest; The Philadelphia Story; Spooks; Three Men on a Horse; The Women

1951-1952
The first performance at 101 E. Lawrence was on November 8, 1951. Springfield Theatre Guild, as we were known then, received numerous congratulatory telegrams from many famous celebrities, including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Broderick Crawford. Born Yesterday; The Bat; Claudia; Ladies in Retirement; It’s an Art

1952-1953
Chicken Every Sunday; The Ghost Train; Dirty Work at the Crossroads; The Two Mrs. Carrolls; The Happy Time

1953-1954
Bell, Book and Candle; The Chase; The Curious Savage; The Man Who Came to Dinner; Gramercy Ghost

1954-1955
Hangman’s Noose; Mrs. McThing; The Philadelphia Story; Mr. Barry’s Etchings; Death Takes a Holiday

1955-1956
Time Out For Ginger; Dial M for Murder; Lily, The Felon’s Daughter; The Rainmaker; My Three Angels

1956-1957
The Tender Trap; The Importance of Being Earnest; South Pacific; Therese; Harvey

1957-1958
Teahouse of the August Moon; Anastasia; Oklahoma!; Sabrina Fair; The Seven Year Itch

1958-1959
Desk Set; Mister Roberts; Inherit The Wind; Roberta; Life With Father

1959-1960
The Matchmaker; Time Limit; The Mousetrap; Plain and Fancy; Light Up the Sky

1960-1961
The Man in the Dog Suit; I Remember Mama; Witness for the Prosecution; Damn Yankees; The Gazebo

1961-1962
Howie; Diary of Anne Frank; Arsenic and Old Lace; The King and I; The Loud Red Patrick

1962-1963
Kind Sir; The Best Man; Tunnel of Love; Guys and Dolls; The Happiest Millionaire

1963-1964 A Majority of One; A Far Country; The Boy Friend; Night Must Fall; Critics Choice

1964-1965
Gigi; 12 Angry Men; Flower Drum Song; The Glass Menagerie; Come Blow Your Horn

1965-1966
Send Me No Flowers; The Miracle Worker; The Sound of Music; The Pleasure of His Company; Blithe Spirit

1966-1967
Never Too Late; The Advocate; Paint Your Wagon; Web of Murder; Mary, Mary

A 75,000 sq. ft. addition was added in October, 1967. The addition, named Paul Becker Hall (past STG president who was largely responsible for the original building), housed the scene shop, make-up room, dressing rooms and more rehearsal space.

1967-1968
Take Her She’s Mine; The Rivalry; Lo and Behold; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Barefoot in the Park

1968-1969
The Odd Couple; A Thousand Clowns; Call Me Madam; A Case of Libel; Generation

1969-1970
Three Men on a Horse; The Silver Whistle; Mame; Wait Until Dark; Star Spangled Girl

1970-1971
Cactus Flower; Catch Me If You Can; Hello, Dolly!; Wind Between the Houses; The Fantasticks

1971-1972
Little Mary Sunshine; Life With Mother; George M!; Ransom; I Do! I Do!

1972-1973
Don’t Drink The Water; Dirty Work at the Crossroads; Anything Goes; Picnic; Plaza Suite

1973-1974
Forty Carats; Stalag 17; The Mikado; The Innocents; Butterflies Are Free

1974-1975
Teahouse of the August Moon; You Can’t Take It With You; Carousel; The Owl and the Pussycat; Harvey

1975-1976
The Odd Couple; Godspell; Nightwatch; Oliver!; 6 Rms Riv Vu

1976-1977
The Sunshine Boys; Two by Two; The Lion in Winter; Cabaret; Pinocchio; No Sex Please, We’re British; The Book of Dreams

1977-1978
David and Lisa; Tenderloin; God’s Favorite; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Sleeping Beauty; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The King of Illinois

1978-1979
Our Town; The Taming of the Shrew; Scrooge; Death of a Salesman; H.M.S. Pinafore; Dirty Work at the Crossroads; Nobody Likes Mordacious…; The Last of the Red Hot Lovers

1979-1980
Dracula; The Fantasticks; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; The Little Foxes; Another Part of the Forest; Pippin; The Prisoner of Second Avenue

1980-1981
The Endless Pavement (original children’s); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Vachel (original script); Pirates of Penzance; A Child’s Christmas in Wales and A Christmas Carol; Vanities; Jesus Christ Superstar; California Suite; Poe, Illusions and Delusions

1981-1982
The School for Wives; Man of La Mancha; Hannah and A Child’s Christmas in Wales; The Runner Stumbles; Royko; Company; The Rainmaker; Alice in Wonderland

1982-1983
Sleuth; Fiddler on the Roof; As You Like It; Ah, Wilderness; The Pushcart Wars; Chicago; The Miracle Worker

1983-1984
Whose Life Is It, Anyway?; Annie; Romeo & Juliet; The Dramatic Revival of Edwin Booth; They’re Playing Our Song; Crimes of the Heart

1984-1985
Mass Appeal; The Robber Bridegroom; Standing on My Knees; Heidi; Jacques Brel; The Dining Room; Snow White; A Streetcar Named Desire; Billy Bishop Goes to War

1985-1986
Black Coffee; A Christmas Carol; Amadeus; Talley’s Folly; Sweeney Todd; The French Have A Word For It; A Chorus Line; Royko

1986-1987
Dream; A Murder Is Announced; Little Shop of Horrors; Sherlock Holmes; Da; Shoulders; Purlie; Agnes of God

Summer of 1987
The Odd Couple; Barefoot in the Park; The Prisoner of Second Avenue

1987-1988
You Can’t Take It With You; Morning’s at Seven; A Day in Hollywood; West Side Story; Fool For Love; To Be Young, Gifted and Black; A…My Name is Alice; Manny

1988-1989
The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wilde; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia

1988-1989
La Cage Aux Folles; The Taming of the Shrew; Noises Off; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; The House of Blue Leaves

1989-1990
On Golden Pond; Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?; A Christmas Carol; The Glass Menagerie; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Murder on the Nile; A Lesson From Aloes; Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

1990-1991
Arsenic and Old Lace; To Kill a Mockingbird; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; The Boys Next Door; Guys and Dolls; Steel Magnolias; Bleacher Bums

1991-1992
Brighton Beach Memoirs; Big River; The Normal Heart; Wait Until Dark; The Foreigner; The American Clock; Nunsense

1992-1993
Biloxi Blues; The Best Man; Grease; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; A Flea in Her Ear; Prelude to a Kiss; Baby

1993-1994
The Great Cross Country Race; Broadway Bound; Twelfth Night; Annie; The Littlest Elf; Red, Hot & Cole; Angel Street/Gaslight; Our Town; I Never Sang for My Father; Nunsense II; Three Bears/Three Pigs

1994-1995
Pump Boys and Dinettes; Jack and the Beanstalk; Dracula; Lend Me a Tenor; Scrooge, The Stingiest Man in Town; Little Shop of Horrors; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Miracle Worker; Harvey; Snow White; The Sound of Music

1995-1996
The Fantasticks; The Emperor’s New Clothes; Blithe Spirit; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; It’s a Wonderful Life!; Charlotte’s Web; Barefoot in the Park; Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?; The Runner Stumbles; Winnie-the-Pooh; The Music Man

1996-1997 A…My Name is Still Alice; The Velveteen Rabbit; A Few Good Men; Life with Father; Miracle on 34th Street; Alice in Wonderland; Evita; Laundry & Bourbon and Lonestar; The Junglebook; Of Mice and Men; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

1997-1998
Born Yesterday; Dial M for Murder; The 1940’s Radio Hour; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; On Golden Pond; Annie Get Your Gun; The Odd Couple (Female Version); Toad in the Hole; Stone Soup; The Phantom Tollbooth. ACTT: Romeo & Juliet

1998-1999
Driving Miss Daisy; The Mousetrap; Annie Warbucks; Moon Over Buffalo; Working; Inherit the Wind; Cabaret; Cinderella; Littlest Angel/Gift of the Magi; Pinocchio; Heidi. ACTT: Return to the Forbidden Planet

1999-2000
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (twice); The Sunshine Boys; I Hate Hamlet; Witness for the Prosecution; Frankenstein; Winnie-the-Pooh – A Christmas Tale; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Clue The Musical; Aurora: Sleeping Beauty

2000-2001
Snow White; Into the Woods; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; Forever Plaid (a collaboration with Gordon Productions); Guys and Dolls, Jr.; Steel Magnolias; Murder’s A-float; My Fair Lady. ACTT: Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?; A Midsummer Night’s Dream

2001-2002
Something’s Afoot; A Streetcar Named Desire; Nuncrackers; Robin Hood; Crimes of the Heart; The Gazebo; Camelot; Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr. ACTT: Little Shop of Horrors; David and Lisa

2002-2003
Over The River and Through The Woods; Footloose; A Christmas Story; The Hobbit; Once Upon a Mattress; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Jesus Christ Superstar; Charlotte’s Web. ACTT: Li’l Abner; Don’t Drink the Water

2003-2004
The Dinner Party; Stuart Little; Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas; Annie; Three Tall Women; As You Like It; Tommy; Holes. ACTT: Snoopy!!!; Mother Hicks

2004-2005
The first performance at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield was on September 17, 2004. Sunday in the Park With George; The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf; Death of a Salesman; Scrooge, the Musical; Deathtrap; You Can’t Take It With You; James and the Giant Peach; Bye, Bye, Birdie! ACTT: Frankenteen; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

2005-2006
The Man Who Came to Dinner; Jekyll & Hyde; A Few Good Men; Santa Claus, The Musical; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Noises Off; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Aladdin, Jr. ACTT: Clue, the Musical; Harvey

2006-2007
Assassins; Blithe Spirit; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; Nuncrackers; Macbeth; Ramona Quimby; Fools; Sweeney Todd. ACTT: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Rehearsal for Murder

2007-2008
The Spitfire Grill; Driving Miss Daisy; Cinderella; Dreamgirls; The Nerd; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Mr. Toad’s Mad Adventures; Children of Eden. ACTT: Return to the Forbidden Planet; Loving Lives

2008-2009
Thoroughly Modern Millie; Steel Magnolias: Willie Wonka, Jr.; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Our American Cousin; The Odd Couple (Female Version); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Dessa Rose.  ACTT:  Honk!; Spring Variety Show.

2009-2010
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast; Laramie Project; Disney’s Geppetto and Son; The Importance of Being Ernest; Rent; The Foreigner; The Comic Book Artist; Company.  ACTT:  Once On This Island; Spring Variety Show.

2010 – 2011
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Dear Edwina Junior; White Christmas; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; From Behind the Curtain; Four Places; The Velveteen Rabbit; Morning’s at Seven

2011 – 2012
1776; The Pirates of Penzance (Young Adult Version); The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; Chess; Heritage; Stoops; Charlotte’s Web; The Great American Trailer Park Musical

2012 – 2013
9 to 5: The Musical; M*A*S*H*; White Christmas; Couplings; The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley Jr.; You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Winnie The Pooh; Proof

2013 – 2014
Spamalot; The Track Home, The Musical; Annie; Hair; Parallel Lives; The Jungle Book; Little Shop of Horrors

2014 – 2015
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Harvey; A Christmas Story: The Musical; The Full Monty; Dr. Dolittle JR.; Murder Mystery Dinner: Death of a Doornail, Our American Cousin; Bat Boy: The Musical

2015 – 2016
Miss Saigon; Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.; Rock of Ages; Tick, Tick… Boom!; Blather, Blarney, and Balderdash; Murder Mystery Dinner: Murder at Rancho Mucho Denaros; On Golden Pond; The Wedding Singer

2016 – 2017
Once Upon A Mattress; Crimes of the Heart; The Music Man, Jr.; A Chorus Line; Into the Woods, Jr.; Murder Mystery Dinner: Good Deeds, Deadly Deeds; Jesus Christ Superstar; Doubt: A Parable

2017 – 2018
Anything Goes; Once on This Island Jr; Avenue Q; Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat; The True Adventures of Aladdin; Murder Mystery Dinner: A Show to Die For, Robinhood, Chicago

2018 – 2019
Bonnie & Clyde; 13, A Christmas Carol, The Musical; Barefoot in the Park; Junie B Jones Jr; Murder Mystery Dinner: The Rat Trap, Hunchback of Notre Dame; 42nd Street

2019 – 2020
Young Frankenstein, Spring Awakening, It’s a Wonderful Life: Radio Hour, Annie Get Your Gun, Beyond the Beanstalk: You Don’t Know Jack (Pinkalicious and M.A.S.H. were cancelled due to the pandemic)

2020 – 2021 Virtual Season
The Spirit of Lincoln, Santa’s Workshop’s Got Talent, Broadway Through the Ages, Virtual Murder Mystery Dinner Show: Sugar & Vice

2021 – 2022
Arsenic & Old Lace, Green Day’s American Idiot, Elf: The Musical, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Nightmare at the Sweet Dreams Inn: A Totally 90’s Murder Mystery, Disney’s Moana Jr., Miscast Cabaret,

2022-2023
Play That Goes Wrong, Fun Home, Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical, Follies: In Concert (Fundraiser Event), Heathers: the Musical, The Christians, Disney’s Newsies Jr., The Color Purple