1953-54: Grinnell College official Kent Andrews converts an old vacant
airplane hangar into a theatre on N. Highway 71. The Okoboji Summer
Theatre Association is incorporated. Two theatre seasons come and
go without success.
1956: A group of faculty and students from Carthage College (in Illinois)
rent and operate the theatre.
1957: The theatre’s property owner, Lakes Educational Projects
Inc. (a group of 87 shareholders), purchases the theatre from Grinnell
and searches for a college to lease it.
1958: The first season opens at Okoboji Summer Theatre with nine
Stephens students and 11 faculty members.
1959: Bill West is named managing director. A dormitory/Green Room/cafeteria
is added.
1961: Stephens signs a five-year lease for the theatre’s building. Children's
plays are performed in the main theatre during the day.
1962: The Lakes Educational Projects Inc. turns the theatre buildings
and land over to Stephens. The College agrees to operate the theatre
for a minimum of seven years.
1963: Boji Bantam Theatre is constructed. A contest to name the theatre
is won by Martin Rickers of Worthington, Minn. The dormitory dining
area is expanded.
1964: The theatre is expanded by 100 seats to a capacity of 450.
A new front is added as well as a box office and covered area for
rainy nights.
1965: Farmers Roy and Flossie Smith give Stephens the three acres
behind the theatre, where faculty and staff housing (mobile home
trailers) is located.
1974: The Smith farm adjoining the theatre is purchased through a
fund-drive in the community. Pledges are honored 100%.
1975: A laundry/rehearsal facility is built on the old hog house
foundation; the building is still called "The Hog House." A pole
barn for scenery also is constructed.
1976: The Okoboji Summer Theatre Association, the remnants of the
Lakes Education Projects Inc., purchases the 12 acres of land north
of the theatre from the Smith family, the original property owners.
1980: Addison Myers replaces West as managing director.
1986: Stephens College gains full ownership of the 12 acres of land
north of the theatre. FACELIFT campaign raises money for a water
line to Okoboji and metal siding for the main theatre.
1989: Bill West, the major force in the theatre since 1958, dies.
1990: Funds raised for the Bill West Memorial Park. Renovation completed
on the Boji Bantam Theatre.
1995: A new roof for the building and the T-H-E-A-T-R-E letters,
absent for many years, are restored.
1997: Costume area expanded; Boji Bantam Theatre renovation as a
second updated performance space is started.
1998: Beth Leonard is named artistic director.
1999: Boji Bantam Theatre renovation completed.
2000: As the result of an end-of-the-season fundraising campaign,
a decorative canopy is added to the front of the theatre.
2003: The theatre begins a five-year fundraising campaign.
2007: OST celebrates its 50th anniversary in the newly renovated
theatre.
