Pioneer Playhouse
Backroads-n-bluegrass will lead you to Kentucky's oldest outdoor theatre, lovingly hand built from recycled materials spanning 200 years. But our best feature is the one we didn't build - the roof! Our roof is the whole sky...
Enjoy a pre-show meal and great entertainment in an historic setting built from reclaimed and recycled materials spanning two hundred years of Kentucky history.
Currently celebrating 62 years, Pioneer Playhouse is a state historic landmark, offering unforgettable stories, under the stars!
Playhouse History
Founded in 1950 by Col. Eben C. Henson, Pioneer Playhouse is the oldest outdoor theatre in Kentucky and has been called the "Granddaddy" of Kentucky Outdoor Dramas. The Playhouse was also instrumental in pioneering the outdoor theatre movement in the state.
In the fifties and sixties it received national attention as the "King of Summer Stocks" in New York trade magazines and in 1962 was the first theatre in the nation to be accorded the legal status of State Theatre (by act of Legislation).
More than 3,000 aspiring actors have strode across the stage since Henson turned an empty field into a theatre complex. Today the unconventional, hand-built theatre serves a pre-show dinner out of doors and a live performance Tuesday through Saturday, every summer, come rain or shine. (Indoors in case of rain.)
Visitors can stroll through a quaint replica of early Danville on a self-guided tour and enjoy a fine Off-Broadway or Broadway hit play in a rustic setting ... beneath a spangle of stars!
A documentary about Pioneer Playhouse aired on Kentucky Educational Television and appeared nationwide on PBS stations in 2003, bringing floods of emails from theater buffs and former actors.
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