little theater

noun

1. generally noncommercial drama, usually of an experimental nature and directed at a limited audience.

2. a small theater, producing plays whose effectiveness would be lost in larger houses.

3. amateur theatricals.

Word History and Origins

Origin of little theater¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

“That’s what made the theater burning down the most devastating … we put our hearts and souls into turning this strip-mall space into a beautiful, little theater, and it’s gone,” Krieger said.

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I was doing a little theater here and there, but I was doing construction.

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“When a multiplex is allowed to take something that was born and originally shown in these little theaters and they’re restricted from it, you’re killing the little guy,” she says.

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In a 1987 letter, Lee said Sergel’s adaptation “admirably fulfills the purpose for which it was written, for amateur, high school and little theater groups, and stock productions.”

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And then there is the tactic of deploying a little theater — adding drama to draw the eye.

Read more on Seattle Times