It all started in 1977,

When the Murray-Calloway County Community Theatre incorporated as a nonprofit organization and elected its first Board of Directors. The Board immediately began looking for a permanent home. They inquired about the old Murray Freight Depot—an unused, dilapidated building owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. This began a 2 ½ year cooperative effort on the part of city officials, county officials, and members of the theatre board to obtain the depot as a home for community theatre.

The depot was moved to its location in the Murray-Calloway County Park in the fall of 1979. In June 1980, the depot opened with “Wizard of Oz.” After three years of “wandering around town,” the Murray-Calloway County Theatre had a home—the Playhouse in the Park. Since that time, the theatre has produced numerous performances in the depot and has continued expanding its educational services, sponsoring the Box of Frogs Youth Theatre Group, holding classes for the community, traveling to schools in the city and county, and hosting an annual Summer Theatre Camp.

Playhouse in the Park is one of the oldest continuously producing theatres in the country.

Our Show Archive

    • Love Letters

    • The Play That Goes Wrong

    • The Lightening Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

    • Finding Nemo Kids

    • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

    • Frankenstein

    • The Little Mermaid, Jr.

    • Annie

    • Crowns

    • Freaky Friday

    • Assassins

    • School House Rock-LIVE

    • Into the Woods

    • Into the Woods, Jr

    • Summer Camp: Magic Treehouse Collection: Pirates Past Noon, Kids

    • Savannah Sipping Society

    • Penguin Project Presents: Guys and Dolls, Jr.

    • The Mousetrap

    • Puffs

    • White Christmas

    • Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob the Musical

    • The Miracle Worker

    • Disenchanted

    • Junie B. Jones, The Musical

    • Froglets & Tadpoles: The Wizard of Oz

    • Box of Frogs: Drama School Drama

    • Summer Camp: Frozen, Kids

    • Penguin Project Presents: High School Musical, Jr.

    • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

    • Sister Act

    • Playhouse After Dark presents: The Rocky Horror Show

    • Elf & Elf, Jr.

    • 8 Track: The Sounds of the Seventies (The Barn at White Oaks)

    Summer Amphitheater Series:

    — The Descendants

    — The Marvelous Wonderettes

    — The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged

    • Wonderland

    • Seussical, the Musical ~ Kids Summer Camp show

    • Smoke on the Mountain

    • Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical (in production)

    • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

    • Matilda

    (Season 2020 awash from Covid-19 Pandemic)

    Summer-Fall Amphitheater Outdoor Series: 

    — The Commedia Pinnochio

    — Always, Patsy Cline

    — The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged (one show)

    • The Rainbow Fish

    • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    • PIP United: A (Virtual) Cabaret for Justice, Equality, & Inclusion

    • Christmas at Home (Virtual Holiday Cabaret)

    • Jesus Christ Superstar

    • Girls’ Weekend

    • Clue, The Musical ~ Dinner Theatre

    • James and the Giant Peach

    • American Idiot ~ Playhouse After Dark

    • Aladdin ~ Kids Summer Camp

    • Moonlight & Magnolias

    • Grease, High School Version ~ The Penguin Project©

    • Mamma Mia!

    • A Christmas Story

    • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

    • Two on the Aisle, Three in the Van

    • Disenchanted ~ Dinner Theatre

    • Kiss Me, Kate

    • Next to Normal ~ Playhouse After Dark

    • The Lion King, Kids ~ Kids Summer Camp

    • 1776

    • Shrek, Jr. ~ The Penguin Project

    • Agatha Christie’s: Murder on the Nile

    • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

    • Godspell

    • Disney's Camp Rock

    • Tenderly ~ Dinner Theatre

    • Steel Magnolias

    • Once Upon a Mattress

    • Grunch the Musical & 15 Reasons Not to be in a Play ~ Pail of Tadpoles/Basket of Froglets

    • Willy Wonka Jr. ~ Penguin Project

    • Sleeping Beauty Kids ~ Kids Summer Camp

    • The Dining Room

    • Murder at the Howard Johnson's

    • Anne of Green Gables

    • Disney's The Little Mermaid

    • The Crucible

    • The Last Night of Ballyhoo

    • Bonnie & Clyde

    • The Addams Family Musical

    • Disney's Beauty & The Beast

    • Kids Camp - The Aristocats Kids

    • Penguin Project - Peter Pan Jr.

    • After Dark! - Avenue Q

    • Arsenic & Old Lace

    • Forever Plaid

    • The Diary of Anne Frank

    • RENT (Playhouse After Dark)

    • Little Women: The Musical

    • A Year with Frog & Toad

    • Penguin Project: Seussical, Jr.

    • Noises Off

    • Catch Me If You Can

    • The Music Man

    • Spamalot

    • Charlotte’s Web

    • On Golden Pond

    • Grace & Glorie

    • Legally Blonde The Musical

    • Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

    • A Charlie Brown Christmas

    • The Last Five Years

    • Dinner theatre: Love, Loss & What I Wore

    • Gee’s Bend

    • Summer camp: Magic Treehouse: Dinosaurs Before Dark

    • Penguin Project: Annie, Jr.

    • You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

    • Driving Miss Daisy

    • Fiddler On the Roof

    • The Odd Couple

    • Shrek

    • Miracle on 34th Street

    • Pinkalicious

    • Alice in Wonderland

    • Gooney Bird Greene

    • Summer camp: Jungle Book Kids

    • The Marvelous Wonderettes

    • 13 The Musical

    • Second Samuel

    • Doubt

    • Big River

    • Little Shop of Horrors

    • A Christmas Carol

    • Crowns

    • Summer camp: Cinderella Kids

    • Hairspray

    • Mulan, Jr.

    • Dearly Beloved

    • Wait Until Dark

    • The Sound of Music

    • Summer camp: Aladdin Kids

    • Seussical

    • Father Knows Best

    • Smoke on the Mountain

    • 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

    • To Kill a Mockingbird

    • White Christmas

    • Summer camp: Willy Wonka Kids

    • Wizard of Oz

    • High School Musical 2

    • Dearly Departed

    • Proof

    • Jekyll & Hyde

    • Best Christmas Pageant Ever

    • Summer camp: Aristocats Kids