The original Bay St Louis Little Theater on Boardman Avenue was totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. After five years, the Little Theatre will finally have a permanent home. The BSLLT was founded in the living room of John and Mary Bell in 1946. In 1948, local physician, Dr. Emmet Erwin, donated land located on Boardman Avenue to the Little Theatre. The membership then bought two war-surplus ba
rracks from the Seabee base in Gulfport and had them dismantled. They were shipped by barge to the Bay and reassembled. One was positioned vertically to form an auditorium, and the other attached horizontally to form the stage. The theater remained there for 57 years until the hurricane. Since Katrina, the Little Theatre has performed at First Missionary Baptist Church, Bay City Grille, St. Rose de Lima Church, P’Zazz restaurant, Long Beach Lodge, Waveland Civic Center, Luke’s Dinner Theatre, and the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center. “We will be forever grateful to Steve D’Angelo, Father Sebastian, Mayor Longo, Jon Trimmer, Rev. Allen Jenkins for providing a venue to continue performances while we were searching for and building our new theater. We were able to remain viable and visible in the community. And now, finally, we have a home,” said Cheryl Grace, Little Theatre President. In 2008, the Theater’s Board of Directors purchased the “This Property is Condemned” building with a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission. A grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has funded the renovation.
