As a faithful replication of the Old Market House constructed in 1858 and razed in 1925 for a river-channel bypass, it boasts a neo-classic facade that hearkens to San Antonio's frontier days. Fittingly, it was two artists who organized the San Antonio Conservation Society in an effort to halt the destruction of the historic Old Market House. Their crusade failed, but the city agreed to preserve the beautiful facade for use in a future fine-arts auditorium. When the time came to retrieve the stonework, however, it was found to have been dumped in a jumble with parts of other structures in an old quarry and unusable. The architects painstakingly labored to reproduce the original facade by tracing profiles, calculating dimensions of broken pieces and consulting old photographs.

The community theater group that took up residence in the grand structure when it opened in 1930 brought its own history to the stately walls. Its theatrical roots reached back to the San Antonio Dramatic Club, founded by Sarah Barton Bindley in 1912. Miss Bindley, a "dramatic art instructor," had fled the Mexican Revolution for San Antonio and galvanized local citizenry into the first amateur theatrical group dedicated to performing full-scale drama productions locally. They met regularly in the St. Anthony Hotel and, when that group folded in 1920, Miss Bindley went on to found the successful San Antonio Players Club. There was behind-the-scenes drama, however; when she returned with her cast from a successful 1927 theater competition in Dallas, she found the officially chartered Little Theatre Producing Company of San Antonio had displaced her on the local theater scene. She eventually joined them.

New director Carl Glick spearheaded the search for a building site for a permanent theater, with Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who wintered in San Antonio, being a special consultant on this project. The site selected was in historic San Pedro Park (second oldest public park in the United States) on the then northern outskirts of town. The opening production was an elegant extravaganza, "The Swan," and bore its dramatics backstage as well. The fire chief threatened to shut down the play opening night when it was discovered there was no inspection certificate. Influential theater supporters stormed the mayor's office and the show went on with fire engines, ambulances and emergency vehicles standing by and firemen armed with extinguishers backstage.

The San Antonio Little Theatre temporarily shut down when World War II reared its ugly head but the group revived in 1947. Over the years, a number of directors have steered the group, but none had such far-reaching influence as Joe Salek, who took the helm in the late '40s for a tenure of several decades. It was Salek who was responsible for SALT's reclaiming the San Pedro Playhouse, whose occupancy by the group had been lost in the years prior to his arrival. (The building is now leased from the city of San Antonio.)

Salek created a monthly newsletter (The SALT Shaker) and drama school, reduced theater-seating capacity from 800 to a more intimate 450 by extending the stage into an 8-foot apron, and introduced small-scale and experimental productions in the basement "SALT Cellar." Some of these expanded to a theater-in-the-round on the main stage, including a legendary 1973 production of "Romeo & Juliet" performed in a circus setting complete with trapeze and "big top." Its youthful director, Wayne Elkins, later headed the Playhouse himself. Launched by a woman from abroad, the theater has come full circle this year, with DiAnn Sneed as new executive director and British-born Vivienne Elborne (whose husband, Francis, is a former executive director) as artistic director.

Today, the theater is in the throes of a multi-phased restoration project inside and out, as well as modernization of technical and audience aspects. The spacious, chandeliered lobby -- with its decorative molding, towering curtained windows that overlook the park and fancifully trimmed box office -- still evokes a 1920s ambience. The Playhouse continues to offer top-notch plays and musicals, while its intimate Cellar Theatre presents smaller and experimental productions -- all performed by talented and dedicated local volunteers, as was the original group's aim. Winner of numerous theater awards, Playhouse productions have traveled as far as Russia, Alaska and Mexico.

With 87 years under its theatrical belt, the San Pedro Playhouse is the longest running and most successful live theater in San Antonio and well worth a seat when the curtain rises on yet another stellar performance.