New Orleans, the Little Theatre

Max Pollak

"Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré (The Little Theatre of the Old Square), located at 616 St. Peter St, New Orleans, LA, is one of the longest-running local theaters in the United States. At the forefront of the “little theatre” movement that aimed to produce plays in cities and towns across the country outside of the commercial confines of Broadway, Le Petit was established in 1916 in the drawing room of a local actor who invited other theater lovers and amateur practitioners to organize.

Le Petit Theatre has operated continuously as a producing theater ever since, first as a community theatre, then transforming into the professional theater it is today. For going on nine decades, the theater has been housed in an historic French Quarter building of the same name, which annually features five main stage productions, casting both Equity and Non-Equity performers, as well as dozens of special events and concerts throughout the year. Le Petit anchors the fun-loving, dynamic, historic New Orleans theatre scene, which can boast having multiple producing theaters and organizations of varying sizes, home to a growing community of playwrights and storytellers, and host of Mardi Gras, where everyone is part of the ‘theater’ of the streets. "