55 YEARS in 55 PHOTOS
1971
Earliest photo of Lamb’s Players first Street Theatre show THE HOUND OF EVERYMAN. The non-profit organization grows out of Steve Terrell’s drama class at Bethel College in St. Paul, MN
1972
Lamb’s Players first touring bus “Ox” (for oxidation) in the Minnesota snow. Realizing the season for Street Theatre was short in the upper Midwest, the young company, including founders Steve & Elza Terrell and Glen “Herbie” Hansen, moves to San Diego
1973
Street Theatre rehearsal in the Terrell’s front yard in Spring Valley
1974
Chris Turner starts Quimby Company a touring puppet troupe that is a huge hit with college students
1975
HARK! THE ARK! Street Theatre’s second production mesmerizes crowds of students with its stunning set erected on the campus quad. Lamb’s Players Street Theatre is now touring nationally to Colleges, Prisons & Renaissance Faires.
1976
Kerry Meads (then Olson) working the stocks at a Renaissance Faire. Robert Smyth also joins the company this year with a vision to build a resident repertory theatre
1977
A mighty motley crew! Lamb’s Players has 6 touring troupes on the road - Street Theatre, Puppets, Mime, Dance, Juggling & Magic, and a Song & Story duo
1978
Lamb’s Players Theatre opens as the company’s first resident stage, an intimate theatre-in-the-round, on Plaza Blvd in National City
1979
This year sees Deborah Gilmour and David & Liz McFadzean join the company. Pictured here in the Readers Theatre troupe started by Rick Parker
1980
Lamb’s Players Mime Troupe, started in 1974 as “Hands & Feet,” won numerous awards in competitions up and down the West Coast
1981
Steve & Elza Terrell move their family north to Sonora, CA in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Robert Smyth becomes the company’s Artistic Director and David McFadzean its Managing Director & President
1982
A vibrant production of the musical GODSPELL becomes the theatre’s first Sold Out hit
1983
David McFadzean’s first original script DEEP RIVER. One of 8 diverse plays & musicals written by McFadzean that Lamb’s has premiered
1984
Robert Smyth & Deborah Gilmour play Petruchio & Kate in a very fun and moving THE TAMING OF THE SHREW that closes its run a week before their own wedding
1985
LAMB’S PLAYERS FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS, started in 1978, has become an annual tradition for thousands of individuals & families. “The Tradition That’s Different Each Year” with a new script by Kerry Meads, different music and a different cast each December
1986
The last year of Street Theatre, and the start of our Educational Outreach, touring shows on critical issues facing students - from drug abuse to bullying - to schools across SoCal (‘93 & ‘94 Touring Company pictured)
1987
DAMIEN, Robert Smyth as Damien de Veuster, the “Leper Priest of Molokai.” This tour de force performance was to have numerous productions and tours over a 30 year period
1988
Lamb’s adaptation of THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW by Walter Wangerin. The LA Times calls it a “rediscovery of the power of the imagination in theatre”
1989
JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. This massive hit starts the search for a larger theatre space
1990
Lamb’s Players starts mounting 1 to 4 additional productions per year at the Lyceum Theatres in Horton Plaza. This continues for 17 years
1991
Tom Key’s adaptation of Clarence Jordan’s book THE COTTON PATCH GOSPEL, with music by Harry Chapin, is such a hit we will present it multiple times over the years
1992
Our Sold Out production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with David Heath as Aticus and his daughter Carrie as Scout has a sudden additional relevance during the Rodney King trial
1993
BOOMERS, the music of a generation, an original production by Kerry Meads and Vanda Eggington, would go on to have more performances than any other Lamb’s show
1994
Lamb’s new resident theatre opens in the remodeled performing arts space in Coronado’s iconic 1917 Spreckels Building. Within a year Lamb’s had grown to be the region’s 3rd largest theatre company
1995
AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS takes its patrons back 100 years for a memorable Feast & Celebration. It is held in the Ballroom of the Hotel del Coronado for 21 Decembers
1996
In addition to musicals, comedies, dramas & new work, Lamb’s also takes a fresh look at classics, from Shakespeare and Marlow to this year’s production of Rostand’s CYRANO
1997
Audiences were in the mood to laugh with this bright new production of the great American comedy YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
1998
Lamb’s is invited to perform at the C.S. Lewis Centennial Celebration in Oxford & Cambridge this year, including for an event at Blenheim Palace
1999
Lamb’s adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel TILL WE HAVE FACES, commissioned for the Lewis Centennial Celebration, receives a stunning full stage production during the theatre’s 1999 Season
2000
The premiere of JOYFUL NOISE by Tim Slover was a huge hit in San Diego in 1999. This year we took the fascinating story of the scandal that nearly prevented the London premiere of Handel’s “Messiah” to New York for an extended run off-Broadway
2001
We Celebrate our 30th Year in Coronado’s grand Fourth of July Parade
2002
This year’s rousing production of the musical 1776 is such a hit we bring it back the following summer at the Lyceum
2003
Before there was “Barney Miller,” before there was ”Hill Street Blues,” there was Sidney Kingsley's DETECTIVE STORY. David Heath leads an award-winning ensemble
2004
Lamb’s wild, riveting adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel THE GREAT DIVORCE
2005
A pool on stage! For a mesmerizing regional premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Ovid’s METAMORPHOSES
2006
A wondrous INTO THE WOODS by Stephen Sondheim, on resident scenic designer Mike Buckley’s magical 2-dimensional “pop-out” set
2007
An enchanting ENCHANTED APRIL with all the wit, beauty & reconciliation of this often overlooked gem of the theatre
2008
Just 3 months before the start of the Great Recession LAMB’S takes on the revitalization & management of the Horton Grand Theatre in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. It will be our second theatre for 9 years
2009
The Great Recession has people longing for a great comedy. We find it with ROOM SERVICE set during the Great Depression
2010
The premiere of MIXTAPE, the Greatest Hits of the 80s, by company members Jon Lorenz & Colleen Kollar Smith, with director Kerry Meads. This rockin’ journey through the music, the dance and the memories of that most awesome decade runs at the Horton Grand Theatre for more than 3 years!
2011
THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, David McFadzean’s hilarious musical adaption of Goldoni‘s classic story, with an original score by Deborah Gilmour Smyth
2012
“The Road Crew” Lamb’s Educational Touring Company begins performing its acclaimed anti-bullying show BASH! to schools all across San Diego County
2013
Deborah Gilmour Smyth’s profound award-winning performance in Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize wining play WIT
2014
LES MISERABLES! This fresh & powerful production garners 7 different Craig Noel Awards from the San Diego Critics Circle
2015
FREUD’S LAST SESSION by Mark St. Germain is a fascinating evening with C.S. Lewis & Sigmund Freud. Fran Gercke & Robert Smyth’s performances are such a hit it has 3 different runs in 2 different theatres this year
2016
The amazing band for AMERICAN RHYTHM includes Lamb’s longtime House Band members Rik Ogden, David Rumley & Oliver Shirley. Kerry Meads & Vanda Eggington first developed this celebration of 100 years of America’s music in 2000
2017
THE EXPLORERS CLUB, Nell Benjamin’s wild, witty & wise comedy is an hysterical knockout with a killer cast
2018
The regional premiere of the Irish musical ONCE. A huge, huge hit with a cast of fabulous quadruple-threats - actor, singer, dancer, musicians
2019
A JEWEL IN THE CROWN CITY, a fantastic 2-month musical celebration of LAMB’S 25 Years in Coronado
2020
The West Coast premiere of BABETTE’S FEAST, a delicious adaptation of Isak Dinesen’s mesmerizing story of Grace, Gratitude & an artist’s Callling
And then…
The outbreak of COVID-19 means the sudden closure of ALICE, a Magical Musical Journey into Wonderland. We had no idea that the theatre would stay closed for 18 month in the community fight of the pandemic.
2021
We reopen the theatre with veteran ensemble member Cynthia Gerber in a Tour de Force performance as American poet Emily Dickinson in THE BELLE OF AMHERST
2022
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the year’s biggest hit
2023
R.E.S.P.E.C.T a musical tribute by Kerry Meads & Vanda Eggington celebrating the amazing female singers and songwriters of the 1960s
2024
OUTSIDE MULLINGAR is this year’s surprise hit. John Patrick Shanley’s Irish dramedy features two married couples making up its cast, Brian Mackey & Rachael VanWormer and Robert Smyth & Deborah Gilmour Smyth
2025
THE ‘70S! THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ALBUM, Kerry Meads & Vanda Eggington’s 4th musical production together, is extended again and again