A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1986-87

The Dayton Playhouse Collection documents one of Dayton's longest lasting cultural institutions. Because of the number of different theatres operating at one time under the auspices of the Dayton Playhouse, series have been separated to chronicle the development of those organizations. The last organization to appear as a series is the larger Dayton Playhouse Inc. series. Even though it is customary to put larger collections first in a series, Dayton Playhouse Inc. is last, as it will continue to grow through the donation of additions, and therefore will be easier to process, i.e., renumbering boxes, files, etc.

Series I, Dayton Community Theatre, captures the early years of the theatre's history. The first subseries, Shows, includes everything related to a particular production from 1959 through the mid-1980s. Also included in this series are the administrative records of DCT, involving board minutes and other committee meeting minutes, as well as any administrative topics, such as trying to find a new home for the Dayton Community Theatre. The third subseries, Special Events, encompasses everything from awards ceremonies and theatre picnics, to anniversary banquets and workshops. Financial records follow, which includes yearly and monthly records. And finally, correspondence, records the various communications between board, community, city, and theatre members. Within each subseries, topics are organized alphabetically. Within most folders, chronological order exists.

The next four series follow essentially the same order as the first. A significant break in series organization comes with Series V, Photographs, Slides, and Negatives. Here images are ordered first by organization, then by subject, then arranged chronologically. The same follows suit with negatives and slides, the following two subseries.

The next series, Audiovisual Materials, contains numerous video recordings, primarily of shows, but also some award banquets, and workshops. Again, these are arranged first, by Theatre, then by subject, then chronologically.

The last series in this collection is Scrapbooks, Posters, and Oversize photographs. The first three scrapbooks span the years 1959 through 1980, encompassing only the Dayton Community Theatre. There are no scrapbooks for any other organization, e.g. Dayton Repertory Theatre. These scrapbooks contain programs, photos, advertisements, reviews etc. Also in this series is Posters. These posters too, span the early years through the 1990s. The last in this series is oversized photos, these are pictures taken of various productions, that are larger than 8.5" x 11."