The Beginning

The roots of Waco Civic Tehatre date back to the 1920s when the work of many enlightened citizens combined to form Waco Little Theatre, which operated  from 1925 to 1936. In 1945, then chairman of the Baylor University Drama Department, Dr. Paul Baker, and a team of WLT participants worked to reform the organization that would take the shape of Waco Civic Theatre (WCT) three years later. In 1955, Waco Civic Theatre was granted its non-profit status as a 501(c)(3).

Its own entity

Dr. Paul Baker collaborated with architect James Hull Miller of Shreveport, LA to design and build the new WCT at its current locale. So noteworthy was the success of their teamwork that the new theatre was commended in 1963 by the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects as one of the three best-designed theatres of its kind in the United States. Over the years, WCT has undergone several additons and renovations, thanks to grants and donations by the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation; The Cooper Foundation; The Waco Foundation; and Mr. Frank Baird Jr. of Buffalo, NY in an endowment honoring his mother, Mrs. Flora Cameron Baird.

Currently

The Mission of the Waco Civic Theatre, a non-profit organization, is to provide the Heart of Texas community with quality live theatre, to create an outlet for community education and participation in all aspects of productions, and to instill in the community a sense of pride and ownership in the theatre.