The Marblehead Little Theatre is a community theatre in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Founded in 1956, it is one of the oldest continually operating community theatres in New England.

Venue: Marblehead Little Theatre
Town: Marblehead, US

The Marblehead Little Theatre is a community theatre in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Founded in 1956, it is one of the oldest continually operating community theatres in New England. Encouraged by the response to a one-act play in 1955, The Charm Racquet, the women of the town decided to produce a three-act play and to form a community theatre group. Marblehead Little Theatre's first full-scale production was Moss Hart's Light up the Sky. While casting the show, relatives and friends were enlisted to help with production. The show opened on January 18, 1956, at the Marblehead Junior High School Auditorium. Throughout the 1950s, MLT held its main productions at the high school using the proscenium stage. As the group gained recognition, they were asked to perform at churches, charity functions, and veteran's hospitals and began including a number of one-act plays suitable for these occasions. MLT has also performed Leonardo da Vinci as a children's presentation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. By the 1960s, MLT was doing workshops such as J.B. and The Lady's Not For Burning and also performed Zoo Story and The Bald Soprano. In 1963, MLT was invited to participate in the Marblehead Arts Festival, performing two one-act plays on an outdoor stage. In the mid-1960s, they decided to begin performing musicals. They began by presenting The Fantasticks with a cast of seven, minimal scenery, and an orchestra consisting of a pianist, a harpist, and a percussionist. The show received such an enthusiastic reception that they were inspired to stage a full-scale musical, Pajama Game, in November 1965. The cast of forty came from all over the North Shore, with membership drawn from Salem, Swampscott, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly, and Hamilton. The production had 18 musical numbers, singing and dancing, and a full orchestra, which was presented at Salem State College's large auditorium and was a sell-out. The 1960s also saw MLT's entrance into the New England Theatre Conference Annu