Billboard for the Peninsula Player’s 1984 Season. (Courtesy of Nancy Hoffmann)

The Peninsula Players, America’s oldest professional resident summer theatre, was founded in 1935 by sister and brother Caroline and Richard Fisher. The original theater location was a garden behind the Bonnie Brook motel in Fish Creek, Wisconsin.

In 1937, the new theater was moved to the location where the Wildwood Boys Camp had been, where Peninsula Players Road meets the shores of Juddville Bay. A barn-like stage was built with the audience area located under the stars.

The original stage was constructed with the help of Sam Wanamaker, a film director and actor well known to American film audiences.

Caroline Fisher, co-founder of Peninsula Players (undated). (Courtesy of Nancy Hoffmann)

In 1946, a tent-like covering was created to protect the audience from the elements.

In 1957 a new audience pavilion was built as a permanent structure for the plays to be presented.

In 1960, the Fishers sold the theater to Kenneth Carroad, a New York City attorney. Carroad asked James McKenzie to take over the role of producer and handle the business operations of the theater.

Page from the “The Peninsula Players – The First Fifty Years” anniversary brochure. (Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman)

In 1978, Carrod sold the theater to the McKenzies.

Then in 1993, the Peninsula Players Theatre Foundation purchased the property from the McKenzies.

In 2005, construction began on a new stage house that when completed in 2006, was one of the finest summer theater structures in the country.

Peninsula Players received the 2014 Governor’s Award for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

Notable Peninsula Players alumni have included:

• Rene Auberjonois
• Stacy Keach
• Harvey Korman
• Ralph Waite

(Source: “Peninsula Players”. Wikipedia website. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsula_Players)