Name/Title
63rd Street Productions at the Red Barn TheatreEntry/Object ID
2025.18.01Scope and Content
Newspaper clippings, playbills and 8.5x11" posters from theatrical performances presented by 63rd Street Productions at the Red Barn Theater in 2015 and 2016.
"Steel Magnolias" undated
"Shout! A Fantastic Tribute to the Fab Four"
Bill Henderson's puppets in "Rosina Rubylips' Halloween Cabaret"
"Wait Until Dark" starring Kristen Milbocker, Scott Hoek, Michael Culp, Jason Craner, Jen Keou, Olivia Homes, Marcia Williams and David Garret
"Lakeshore Kids Got Talent" judged by Delilah DeWylde, Justine Kinneman and Tom Zemon
"You Make Me Laugh: A love song to Gilda Radner" starring Francesca Amari, 2015
"Boogie Woogie Babies Jukebox" starring Francesca Amari, Barbara Wisse, Mary Rademacher and Mark Kahny, 2015
Greg Jaqua as Elvis, 2015
"Oklahoma" 2015
"Hairspray" with special thanks to Joe Huber, Paul Prins, Ruth Baker Kaye, Julie and Scott Vanderlaan and Justin Kolev, 2015
Johnny Rogers tribute to country music, 2015
Michael Homes' "The Judy Show" with Mark Kahny and Bob Thompson, 2015
"Next to Normal" by Tom Kit, Brian Yorkey, Chane Michael Lynn, Sue Ann Culp, May 2016
"Shrek" Alex Griffin, Kristen Milbocker, Shane Lynn, August 2016
"Made in England" with Stephen Mottram and Peter Black 2016
"The Taming of the Shrew" by Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, 2016
These items were collected by Joy Muehlenbeck while she was chairperson of the 63rd Street Productions board. The board included Dorren Tubergen, Kate Prange, Sandi Boxer, Joan Faragasso, John Hardy, Ruth Kaye, Shane Lynn and Ellen Rininger with advisers Dave Boxer, Tony Faragasso, Bill Henderson, Joe LoCashio and Al VerSchure.Collection
Theater, plays, dramatic performing arts, 1954 Red Barn TheatreCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2025.18Source or Donor
Muehlenbeck, Joy Elizabeth 1937-Acquisition Method
Donation, unconditionalLocation
Box
085 Performance & Theater GroupsRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Emerson Lounge/Guardian Brewery/Red Barn Theater/PlayhouseCreate Date
June 8, 2025Update Date
June 9, 2025
![In 1912 John D. Williamson of Chicago bought The Comstock Farm and renamed it Belvedere Farm because of the commanding views of the dunes and Lake Michigan. Williamson initiated plans for a new "Big House" (now The Belvedere Inn & Restaurant), designed by signature Chicago Prairie School architect Dwight H. Perkins, and purchased 20 acres east of 63rd Street. There he built a white tenant farm house and a white hip roof horses-&-cows barn which is now the Red Barn Theater. Sometime between 1914 and 1920 Williamson traded the entire Belvedere Farm estate to Earl Leonard of Chicago. The Leonards sold the white barn in the early 1950's. It was a rather sound and elegant barn, which offered great charm along with its setting - ideal for a summer stock theater. The barn was subsequently transformed into the Red Barn Theater, painted red, and later enlarged to accommodate more seating and theater set storage.
In 1952 the Red Barn Community Players purchased the barn for a playhouse. Today [2016] the Red Barn Theater near Saugatuck is one of only two barn theaters remaining in Michigan. Genteel opening night champagne receptions were conducted at which everyone arrived in expensive cars. A charming puppet show was held twice weekly, which helped introduce young children to the joys of live theater. It was very popular and absolutely delightful. A log cottage was built on the property to house the theater company. Several actors rented rooms in the white tenant farm house. And the barn's original silo was subdivided into rooms for rent by actors - hence the windows that are still present.
Many careers were launched from The Red Barn, including Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman of 1980's prime-time TV soap opera Dallas and Robbie Benson, who played the lead role in "Oliver" along side his mother, Ann Benson, and later became a notable film star and producer/director in New York. There are many wonderful memories associated with the Red Barn!
Over the years several different owners of the barn continued to offer quality theater to the lakeshore area. As time went on, cities in the area grew and new entertainment venues were introduced. Movie houses, television and colleges with their own theatrical presentations took their toll on the old Red Barn, making it increasingly difficult for the owners of the barn to make a go of it. Maintenance of the barn and housing fell off and in 2003 the barn closed mid season, never again to open as an Equity Summer Stock Theater.
In 2004, RB Landholdings, LLC, purchased the Barn, made various improvements, and built a pole barn attached to the theater building. Then in 2005 the Lakeshore Arts Alliance, Inc., leased the theater structure and reopened the Red Barn as a community theater. In 2014, 63rd Street
Productions, Inc., took on the lease and will continue the tradition of providing quality community theater.](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/4124/526f8550-4478-11f0-ae79-a77f07fc4965-vUU14a2.lg@2x.jpg)