STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

It’s difficult to believe, but there was a time when there was no theater in culture-rich Sun Valley. Just a comedy act led by Chris Millspaugh and a few others at Whiskey Jacques.

That changed in 1977 when a group of Wood River Valley residents founded a community theater group and named it Laughing Stock Theatre.

And this week, 150 of those who have supported it over the decades crowded into the Limelight Room at Sun Valley Resort to learn about the next chapter in the theater company’s life while laughing at snippets of the past served up by actors who have appeared in such Laughing Stock Theatre productions as “Lend Me a Tenor” and “A…My Name is Alice.”

Laughing Stock Theatre did not get its start from university-trained actors who came to town to start a theater company, as did Company of Fools and The Spot.

It was homegrown, the seed planted in acting classes that Glenn Janss brought to a fledgling Sun Valley Center for the Arts.

“Glenn Janss thought the outdoors was not enough so she started what is now the Sun Valley Museum of Art and she brought in teachers from incredible theaters, including Theatre Dublin to coach us,” recalled Laughing Stock co-founder Kathy Wygle. “Those taking the classes bonded, we decided we were pretty good and so we sat around drinking one night and decided we should start a theater company. And, over the years, it has never ceased to amaze me how much talent we have in this town”

Claudia McCain was among those who answered the call and has since enchanted the community with her performances in Laughing Stock, Company of Fools and, now, the new Liberty Theatre Company productions.

“Laughing Stock Theatre cemented my passion for theater,” said McCain, a staunch advocate for both visual arts and theater art. “It taught me stagecraft, made my heart sing, and I found my passion.

Laughing Stock Theatre made its debut in 1977 with “Plaza Suite” and followed it up with an array of popular plays such as “Sunshine Boys,” “Mame,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “The Mousetrap” and “Guys & Dolls.” It also presented a number of lesser known plays, such as “The Robber Bridegroom,” “Exit the Body” and “Musical Comedy Murders 1940.”

More recently, it has presented such great children’s theater as “The Hobbit,” “Pinocchio,” “Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Charlotte’s Web.”

Audience favs have included “Oklahoma!” “The King and I,” “The Sound of Music,” and, of course, “A Christmas Carol—the Musical,” which it introduced in 2006 and has staged 10 times since.

The Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, a spinoff of Laughing Stock Theater launched in 2000 in Ketchum’s Forest Service Park with “Twelfth Night” and has gone on to include “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Comedy of Errors,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Tempest,” “Hamlet” and “As You Like It.”

And Laughing Stock theatre, the former nexStage and Sawtooth Productions have presented occasional play readings showcasing some of the best of contemporary playwriting.

“Laughing Stock Theater helped bond the community and the community helped Laughing Stock theatre grow. And we’re still here 46 years later,” said Wygle.

When Laughing Stock Theatre lost its education director for Camp Little Laugh, Kathy Wygle convinced her sister Patsy and her husband Keith Moore to move to Sun Valley from New York City where they had been acting in soap operas, commercials and off-Broadway plays. And the two quickly found a niche, directing and acting in plays.

“Keith grew up in New Jersey and knew nothing about skiing and six months of snow,” recounted Patsy Wygle. “But he loved Laughing Stock and the community and he did nine shows in six years after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.”

With the COVID pandemic behind and the lights on again, Laughing Stock Theatre is moving forward, Wygle said.

Laughing Stock has signed a lease for 1,500 square feet of space across from the Knob Hill Inn, which will be used for classes and rehearsals. It resumes Camp Little Laugh drama camp for youngsters this week. And it’s hired Megan Mahoney to lead the organization.

“She came to us when she was 9 years old and sang ‘Tomorrow’ from ‘Annie,’ and we were blown away,” recounted Kathy Wygle. She moved to New York, moved back and we stole her from the Sun Valley Community School.”

Funny Guy Mike Murphy capped the evening perfectly—another oldie but goodie showing he still has what it takes to entertain a crowd.

Murphy, who headlined comedy routines in the Sun Valley Boiler Room, in Las Vegas and before major corporate parties for decades, strummed and quipped his way through the final 20 minutes of the evening, including one song about doggone working dogs he dedicated to border collies.

“Hi, I’m Mike and I’m from the past,” he said. Then he looked down.

“I got these shoes in Jerusalem. they were outside a mosque,” he said in his deadpan style.

While many of his earlier routines majored on becoming a dad, this focused the latest stage of his life.

“Let me tell me how old I am. When my wife dresses like a nurse these days, it’s just to get me to take my meds.”

He recounted his last softball game. “I hit the ball and it was gone, gone…I got thrown out at first. But I would’ve made it if I hadn’t stopped to catch my breath.”

Jonathan Kane, who has spent most of his time behind the scenes producing plays, said Laughing Stock Theatre finally got him on stage in “The Odd Couple” in 1997. “We had Rick Kessler, David Blampied, Claudia McCain, Bill Nagel—that’s a memory I will cherish my entire life.”

Prue Hemmings said her favorite production was the 1999 production of “Oliver” at the Sun Valley Opera House, which starred Chad Stuart of the singing duo Chad and Jeremy as Fagin and featured herself, her daughter Charlotte and son Will.

“I played Mrs. Sowerberry and now as I look across the room and see the guy who played my husband, it feels like home week.”

Matt Musgrove, a comparative newcomer and founding member of the Liberty Theatre Company, said he is glad to see Laughing Stock Theatre resume its place in the community following the COVID pandemic.

“Theater always stimulates, and it stimulates Sun Valley,” he said. “And when all of us get together on stage like we did in ‘Christmas Carol,’ it’s so much fun. It’s like one big family.”