Thanks to our amazing new partners at the Little Theatre in Winston-Salem, DigitalNC is proud to announce that hundreds of new show posters and playbills are now available online! Little Theatre’s debut batch on DigitalNC features colorful, bombastic history across nearly a century of play-making. The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem is one of the oldest theatrical associations in Forsyth County, and has continuously produced nearly a century of community theater. This year, the Little Theatre celebrates its ninetieth season of operation; and what better way to celebrate a storied history, than by sharing it online?!

This brand new collection features nearly two hundred individual records, many of which include multiple playbills arranged by season. The earliest playbills hail from as early as 1937 to as recently as 2023. Topics range from serious straight plays by Tennessee Williams to children’s Christmas pageants and musicals. Anyone interested in theater, Winston-Salem, or dramaturgy is sure to find something of interest in this collection.

Looking through show posters and playbills is an amazing way to watch art and design develop across the decades. Each playbill and show poster feature extensive illustrations that demonstrate contemporary design sensibilities. Playbills from the 1960s and 1970s often feature beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, while playbills from the 1990s and 2000s showcase artistic interest in digital art and Photoshop. Arsenic and Old Lace, an Agatha Christie murder mystery, looks drastically different in 1950 than it does five decades later. And while the design of playbills changes through the decades, Little Theatre grows and changes in perfect parallel. The theater’s 1937 season only featured four straight plays put on by a limited cast of actors. In 2023, the Little Theatre produced multiple feature length musicals, organized children’s acting programs and productions, and hosted a variety of acting troupes on its stage in Winston-Salem. However much design and programming may change, a commitment to local artists and entertainers runs through each record in every decade.

You can find these brand new show posters and playbills online now at DigitalNC here. Thanks again to our amazing partners at the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem for making this amazing debut collaboration possible. You can find out more about the Little Theatre at DigitalNC’s partner page here, or online at the theatre’s website here. Here’s to an amazing 90th Season!