Totem Pole Playhouse history

The Totem Pole Playhouse has been playing host to theatre goers since 1951, and each summer puts on a playbill that includes up and coming, as well as famous actors and actresses to its quaint wood building in the pines.

Putch left Totem Pole Playhouse after the 1984 season.

Ficca, a professional actor since 1991 currently serves as the president of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, a highly respected acting school in Washington, D.C. A Totem Pole audience favorite he continues to perform at the Playhouse when his busy schedule allows.

Genus served on the Board of Directors of the DGA for 27 years, many of those as Vice President, until his passing in 2003.

Together they produced, directed and acted in more than 100 productions until their departure in 2008.

The artistic director of the theatre, in 2014, is Rowan Joseph, of Amazing Race fame and a variety of credits in the film, television, and theatre scene from New York to Los Angeles, and he's made it a point of making the Totem Pole a fun and enjoyable evening, or matinee, in the theatre woods.

J.R. Stuart, who played the larger than life Producer in Totem Pole’s 2017 production of The Drowsy Chaperone returns as ‘Melvin P. Thorpe’, the crusading television reporter.

During the most challenging period in theatre history, David Hemsley Caldwell accepted the reins as Artistic Director in January 2021 during a worldwide pandemic that paused the performing arts industry across the globe.