Honoring Playhouse Legends

Begun in 2011 , the theatre honors Playhouse Legends, whose talent and devotion to our theatre over a long period of time have helped set the high standards of entertainment, professionalism, and quality that our audiences expect today. Legends understand the life-changing power and importance of theatre in our community because they, themselves, have lived it.

2023 Honorees

• Paul Dieke, first show was Oliver!, 1980
• Gloria Filean, ticket office volunteer beginning in 1953
• Jim Fogarty, first show was The Clown Who Ran Away, 1965
• Virgil Kleinhesselink, first show was Man of La Mancha, 1979
• Ken Reams, first show was Cyrano de Bergerac, 1968
• Carol J. Taylor, first show was Gypsy, 1964

2019 Honoree

• John W. Viars, first show was Annie Get Your Gun, 1982

2018 Honorees

• Sue Caswell, first show was Bell, Book, and Candle, 1957
• J Michael Kellar, first show was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 1991
• Melissa Kellar, first show was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 1991
• Greg Leavengood, first show was Otherwise Engaged, 1980
• Mark Morrison, first show was 42nd Street, 1990
• Rich Richards, first show was Promises, Promises, 1977
• Dick Russell, first show was The Great Big Doorstep, 1948
• Antonia Nozicka, first show was The King and I, 1985
• Original Board of the Little Theatre Society of Des Moines: James B. Weaver, President; Lewis Worthington Smith, Vice President; Ida T. Jacobs, Secretary; and Henry H. Griffiths, Treasurer; and Ditlev Tillisch, producer and funder of the first performance on Nov. 24, 1919

2017 Honorees

• Steve Berry, first show was Jabberwock, 1974
• Gina Gedler, first show was Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, 1983
• Linda Juckette, first show was Man of La Mancha, 1979
• Joe Tish, first show was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 1994
• Shirley Brower, first show was Look Homeward, Angel, 1960
• Marion Cowper Rae, first show was Anna Christie, 1928
• Richard Wulf, first show was Born Yesterday, 1950

2016 Honorees

• Verner Haldene
• Cloris Leachman
• Phyllis Love
• Eddie Rissien

2013 Honorees

• Dale Berry, first show was The Clown Who Ran Away, 1966
• Jo Berry, first show was The Sound of Music, 1973
• Kathi Fieldsend, first show was Cabaret, 1988
• Lenny Houts, first show was The Music Man, 1984
• Henrietta Kagin, first show was Our Town, 1959
• Phyllis Mumford, first show was The Sound of Music, 1973

2012 Honorees

• Michael Cornelison, first show was Beauty and the Beast, 1963
• Pearl Faessler, first show was Auntie Mame, 1963
• Maxwell Schaeffer, first show was Woman in Mind, 1990
• Toni Pickard, first show was The Philadelphia Story, 1957
• Ruthanne Silverstein, first show was Guys & Dolls, 1958
• Lloyd Von Hagen, first show was The Tender Trap, 1960

2011 Honorees

• Al Downey, first show was Madwoman of Chaillot, 1960
• Jeanne Hopson, first show was Damn Yankees, 1960
• Jack Mishler, first show was Ah, Wilderness!, 1942
• John Thompson, first show was The Traitor, 1950