Back in the 1950s and 60s, Gaslight Square was THE entertainment district in St. Louis.

It covered an area of about three blocks at the intersection of Olive and Boyle, near the eastern part of the current Central West End and was known for its gas streetlamps and ornate Victorian-style architecture, and especially for its entertainment venues. Everyone from Phyllis Diller to the Smothers Brothers, Woody Allen and Dick Gregory performed there. The Allman Brothers – then known as the Allman Joys—even got their start at Gaslight Square.

 However, by the early 2000s, things had changed, and the arts and music scene had moved out and away from Gaslight Square. But then all that changed, thanks to one man taking a random evening stroll.

“I was taking a walk one day about 20 years ago, and these buildings, as I walked down, Boyle just taking an evening walk,” says William Roth, now owner of The Gaslight Theater. “And I looked across the street and these two beautiful turn of the century buildings with no windows and no roofs in the middle of really, the arts district is just up the street and all  these cars going past it on Boyle and a for sale sign. So anyway, long story short, I bought one building…and then to protect that investment, we bought this one and what am I going to do with it? Oh, I’ll button it up and see who wants to move in here. And then I was like, well, maybe a theater might be fun.”

Roth turned that building into The Gaslight Theater. He then created his own theater company to perform there: The St. Louis Actors’ Studio.

It’s a small, black box theater, which can limit what can be performed there. But that size also provides an opportunity to present some new, original works, as they do every summer with their LaBute New Theater Festival, which provides playwrights a chance to try something a bit out of the ordinary. 

As Roth puts it, “St. Louis Actor Studio is a small but mighty theater company that does big plays in a small space. It’s an intimate space to see exciting theater.”