The Poor Nut and a New Beginning

On May 9, 1933, a newly reorganized community acting troupe in St. Petersburg officially adopted the name St. Petersburg Little Theatre, marking a defining moment in its early history.

The group had first taken shape as the Sunshine Players in 1925 during the city’s boom years, later becoming the Players Club in the late 1920s as local interest in theater continued to build. By 1933, fifty members came together with a shared goal of creating a stable, lasting home for the performing arts.

In those early days, productions were staged at Mirror Lake Junior High, where residents gathered in the school auditorium for an evening of live performance. The first show presented under the Little Theatre name was The Poor Nut, a lighthearted comedy that helped set the tone for the group’s friendly, community-centered spirit.

The Little Theatre name endured for nearly eight decades, finally changing to St. Petersburg City Theatre in 2011. Today, the organization stands as one of the oldest continuously operating, volunteer-based community theaters in the country, a reflection of St. Petersburg’s long tradition of supporting the arts.