Decades of watching this town grow up in our seats.
Our family took over this building in 1979 and raised our first curtain in 1980. Since then we have put professional theatre on this stage every summer. And every summer the same thing happens: a local kid sees a show, decides that’s what they want to do, and asks how.
For years our answer was a summer camp. It’s a good answer for the summer. It’s a poor answer in November, when the doors are shut and a nine-year-old who finally found her voice has nowhere to use it until June.
We have the stage, the costumes, the company, and decades of knowing how. What we need now is a building that works in every season. That’s why we’re restoring the Playhouse.
Vicki Garnick and the Garnick family, Jackson Hole Playhouse
Vanessa Garnick Boshoff, Foundation Director, Playtime at the Playhouse
The Deloney Garage
c. 1913: Built as a barn for the Yellowstone Stage Company, sheltering the horse teams that hauled visitors north to the park.
1916: Charles “Pap” Deloney rebuilds it as the Deloney Garage; a blacksmith shop follows.
1920s: Home to Jackson’s first Ford dealership, and later a bowling alley, a mercantile, and the town post office. The original post-office boxes are still inside.
From garage to the Pink Garter Theater
1949: Vera and Ed Cheney begin turning it into a theatre.
June 20, 1959: The Pink Garter Theater raises its curtain.
1968: Renamed the Jackson Hole Playhouse.
The Garnick family Playhouse
1980: Vicki Garnick and her family raise their first curtain and go on to run it as Wyoming’s longest-running professional theatre.
September 2024: Playtime at the Playhouse Inc receives 501(c)(3) recognition from the IRS.
Today: The Restore the Playhouse campaign begins, to make the building usable year-round.