History:
The Milford Theatre Guilde was formed on October 5th, 1994. An article was placed in the local newspaper-seeking people interested in forming a community theatre group for the Greater Milford area. 15 people showed up at the meeting, and several more attended subsequent meetings. We took up a collection, which netted $34, but we were undaunted. We decided to do a play. And the rest, as they say, is History!
The original founding members included Doug Ball, Wayne Bollman, Bernice Croiter, Mary Gardner, Lonna Kingsburry, Andrea & Kunie Kolb, Sue Leen, Jane & Jim Lindahl, Kevin Minney, Bob Quehl, Lori Riley, Linda Roll, Shannon Roll, Betty & Jerry Rooms, Barb, Steve, and Charles Russell, Marcy Schutte, Betty Shoop, Dan Stauft, Alisha & Mike Trasser, Jason Wells, Lynn & Ruth Wonder.
Our first production was “Arsenic and Old Lace” which was presented in the spring of 1995. All of us used our credit cards to buy the things we needed. We built Hollywood flats, with the help of a gentleman who was the shop foreman at CCM. We borrowed costumes from other theatre companies in the area. We worked night and day to present this show to the community. We held our first production at Milford High School and to this day, this is the best-attended show we have ever done. The community accepted us and we were on our way.
The road was not easy. We had a name change for a few years, but returned to our original name of Milford Theatre Guilde. We lost our home at the high school and began looking for other venues. We performed shows at St. Andrews Parish Center, at the Masonic Lodge in downtown Cincinnati and at Brookwood Retirement Community. We felt that this period of being nomads was hurting our attendance.
A few years ago, one of the churches in Milford added a family life center and we presented “12 Angry Men”, which was the first use of the facility. Then in 2005, we presented our first show at The Mulberry Elementary School. After 11 years, we finally had a home, or more precisely, 2 homes. We now perform at the Mulberry Elementary School in Milford and at St. Andrews Parish Center.
We are a non-profit community theater group located in Milford, Ohio serving Clermont County and surrounding areas. We work to bring affordable theater to the community and to help promote the arts throughout the area.
