History

Community theater has been alive in American towns for over a century and has been resurrected here in historic Brandon, Vermont. The term community theater literally means theater that is drawn from and for its own community. The “Little Theater” movement swept the U.S. After a spectacular run in Europe in the 1880's. By 1917 the were 50 “Little Theaters” or performance halls with less than 100 seats that depended on volunteers for labor and subscribers for support. A mere eight years later, over 2000 community theaters existed! Even President Roosevelt supported community theaters through the Works Progress Administration in 1935. The federal government eventually established the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which formed individual arts councils in each state. Today there are over 7000 community theaters and Brandon has one of them!