A Kenley Players Timeline by Joe Florenski

1940	John Kenley co-produces "Worth a Million," a comedy starring Charley Chase. Intended for Broadway, it doesn't get past Baltimore.
	Kenley opens a summer stock theater in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. His first show is No More Ladies, featuring silent screen star Lila Lee.
1947	Sidelined like millions of others by World War II, Kenley returns to Deer Lake for his second season of stock.
	The Kenley Players present a season of "winter stock" in Reading, Pennsylvania. Guest stars include Gloria Swanson and Ruth Chatterton.
1948	The Kenley Players present their first musical, "Good News."
1949	Kenley moves to Lakewood Park in Barnesville, Pennsylvania.
1952	Kenley's first "circuit" is established when he takes over a theater in York, Pennsylvania. Most of the productions that season play both locations.
	Kenley takes Maid in the Ozarks on an extended road tour that lasts until December 1953.
1953	John Kenley's Sassy Little Lassie, an original play, is presented.
1955	The Kenley Players relocate to Bristol, Pennsylvania.
1957	The Kenley Players relocate to the recently refurbished Memorial Hall in Dayton, Ohio.
1958	Dayton businessmen arrange for Kenley's set designer to lease Memorial Hall. Kenley is forced to find a new theater - at Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio.
	After two sold-out weeks in Warren, Kenley takes Genevieve, Jack Paar's "Pixie from Paris," on an 11-city road tour of Cole Porter's Can-Can.
1961	Kenley's second circuit is established after he leases Vets Memorial in Columbus, Ohio. The first production features Gordon and Sheila MacRae in Bells Are Ringing.
1966	Kenley's circuit extends to three cities after Dayton leaders invite him back to Memorial Hall.
1969	Paul Lynde makes the first of nine appearances for Kenley.
	The Kenley Players take over the Hotel Plaza in Miami in December, but the season is cut short after only six productions.
1974	Kenley presents his first "Vegas" production: The Shirley Jones-Jack Cassidy Show.
1975	The Cooch Dancer, an original play by Kenley, is presented.
1978	The Kenley Players relocate to Akron after 20 seasons in Warren.
1981	The Greenwich Village Scandals of 1923, an original revue, is presented.
	Kenley leaves Columbus after years of dwindling box office.
1983	Artists and Models and Madness, another original revue, is presented.
	The Kenley Players leave Dayton.
1984	Two separate seasons of shows - one in Akron, another in Cleveland - are offered.
1985	The Kenley Players sit out the summer.
1986	The Kenley Players return to Akron and Columbus, although in new theaters.
1995	The Kenley Players present a final season of shows in Akron and Dayton. The final Kenley production is another edition of The Mitzi Gaynor Show (her fifth appearance for Kenley).