Mill Mountain Theatre

The theater began its life in 1964 as the Roanoke Summer Theater, located in the former Rockledge Inn that had been built at the summit of Mill Mountain in 1891.^[1][2] After one season, the group changed its name to Mill Mountain Playhouse.^[3]

Despite early growing pains, the theater saw growing success in its first decade and sold out its season tickets in both 1972 and 1973.^[1] In October 1976, however, the group's mountaintop playhouse burned to the ground in a case of what was later determined to be arson.^[4] The theater's board of directors arranged a partnership with Roanoke's Grandin Theatre, and the troupe's performances were held there for the next seven years.^[5][6]

The theater joined several other arts and culture institutions in the city that were searching for either a permanent home or more space.^[7] In 1979, a partnership between the Mill Mountain Playhouse, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Roanoke Valley Arts Council, Roanoke Valley Science Museum, and Roanoke Valley Historical Society announced they would be moving into shared space on Roanoke's historic market square.^[7] By 1983, the location had been dubbed Center in the Square and the theater had renamed itself Mill Mountain Theatre.^[1] The first performance in its new home was the musical Camelot.^[1]

In 1987, the group expanded into a second, "B" theater on the arts complex's fifth floor.^[1] This stage, intended for plays of a more serious tone, was later renamed the Waldron Stage and relocated to an annex of the Center in the Square.^[1] In later years it would host MMT's No Shame Theatre and its Underground Roanoke series.^[1]

In January 2009, after years of financial issues, MMT's board of directors were forced to cease productions in order to reorganize the theater's business operations.^[8] The institution's director taught educational classes as the only active element of the nonprofit's operations.^[8] In May 2010, it was announced that the group's debt had been resolved, and the theater would be aiming for a 2012 reopening.^[8] In March 2012, MMT produced Greater Tuna on the Waldron Stage, its first professional performance since 2009, and on April 24, 2013, Mill Mountain Theatre returned to the Trinkle Main Stage in the newly renovated Center in the Square presenting The Marvelous Wonderettes.^[9][10]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 MMT announced that they would be suspending their programming.^[11] The theater resumed operations in July, 2021, with a performance of the musical Million Dollar Quartet.^[11]

Mill Mountain Theatre classifies its performances into four types: Trinkle Mainstage, traditional plays and musicals; Young Audiences, shows aimed towards children; The Fringe, plays with contemporary themes and for older audiences; and Mill Mountain Music, showcases where various singers perform songs from a particular genre of music. During their 2020 season announcement, Mill Mountain Theatre renamed its Waldron Fringe series to The Fringe, to signify that one of its performances would be put on the Trinkle Stage for the first time, rather than both shows being performed on the Waldron stage.

*All shows in the 2020 season were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, excluding Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, which was instead filmed and released online. Many shows were rescheduled to be a part of the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

**These Shakespeare plays were adapted from their source material to have a shorter runtime; no other alterations were made.