Jun 2, 2015 3 min read

The 67th season of Little Lake Theatre is in full swing right now, but, as the Observer-Reporter reported on Sunday, big changes have recently been afoot at the theater, which is one of Washington County’s most enduring and esteemed cultural institutions.

As of Monday, the theater, located off Route 19 near Canonsburg Lake in McMurray, is not being helmed by someone with the surname of Disney. Sunny Disney Fitchett, along with her husband, Rob Fitchett, who was the theater’s managing director, have both departed from Little Lake in order to pursue new endeavors in California and be closer to his father. In 1992, Sunny took over as the theater’s artistic director after her father, Will Disney, stepped down as the overseer of the theater he founded in 1949. She will remain on the theater’s board, but will not be there to shepherd the theater on a day-to-day basis.

At the time when Little Lake was founded, not long after the end of World War II, its location must have seemed unlikely. Surrounded by farmland, at a remove from both Pittsburgh and Washington, with I-79 still a glimmer in a transportation planner’s eye, there were surely a lot of people who wondered if the elder Disney was tilting at windmills with his small theater. Now, Little Lake is set down near a bustling, sometimes-congested area, and has subdivisions and shopping centers as its neighbors. But it still provides a diverting respite for theatergoers, just as it did in 1949, and has provided acting classes, programs for young people, and has served for many as an introduction to the joys of live theater.

One of those individuals is Little Lake’s new artistic director, Roxy MtJoy. A native of Jefferson in Greene County, she comes to the theater after getting degrees at prestigious schools in Virginia and New York, and working in both Los Angeles and New York City. Supervising the daily, nuts-and-bolts operation of Little Lake is Bob Rak, a Peters Township resident who brings extensive experience working in the nonprofit realm, and who also has acted in several productions at Little Lake and with other theater companies in the region.

Last week, MtJoy recalled that the first live theatrical performance she ever attended was a seasonal presentation of “A Christmas Carol” by Little Lake back in the 1980s. She is certainly not alone in having a lifelong love for theater sparked by seeing a Little Lake production, even if many do not go on to fulltime careers as actors, directors, costume designers or stagehands. In its history, Little Lake has been able to adeptly blend both well-known plays and lesser-known productions that deserve to be discovered by local audiences. Before this season ends in December, Little Lake will be staging the area premiere of five plays. The season started with Thornton Wilder’s beloved “Our Town” and will conclude with “Inspecting Carol,” a holiday mainstay, in December.

Little Lake enlivens the cultural life of Washington County, and also helps add to its bottom line. The theater company has fans and admirers who live outside the county and spend money at local shops and restaurants before and after they attend performances. The value of the arts within our community should not be discounted.

We wish MtJoy and Rak a lot of luck. They are inheriting a rich legacy on which to build.