Collection on the Theatre in the Round

After the Circle Theatre was closed down for financial reasons in the early 1950s, seven of its members decided to start a new theatre, a theatre supported by its members. The group convinced 50 of their friends to pay $10 for three season tickets and by 1953 the theater was up and running. Its first play, "Life with Father," was performed at the local YWCA. The company established themselves as Theatre in the Round. In 1961 the theatre moved to an old loft building on Hennepin Ave for a brief time before moving to a new home on Stevens Ave.

In 1969, the Theatre was forced to move once again due to the sale of the building in which they were housed. They found an old warehouse on Cedar Avenue, which they transformed into a 287 seat modern state of the art theater. In 1973, Theatre in the Round co-founded the Minnesota Association of Community Theatre and in 1976 they helped found Out and About Theatre, the Twin Cities first gay theatre group, which became one of the longest-running in the country. In 1989, Theatre in the Round started a youth program that became so successful that it broke off into an independent theater company, Youth Performance Company, one of the top youth theater programs in the area.

Theatre in the Round Players celebrated their 50th season in 2001-2002 with a special selection of titles and directors and the largest capital campaign in its history. The funding allowed the organization to add facilities for its artists and make both technical and facilities improvements, making it one of the most attractive and accessible theaters in the area.