# Tacoma Little Theatre

A community theatre founded in 1918 and in the same converted auto shop on North I Street since 1940. Musicals, plays, and a pay-what-you-can performance late in each run.

Canonical URL: https://tacomairl.com/places/tacoma-little-theatre/
Section: places
Area: North End
Published: 2026-10-25
Last fact check: 2026-10-25
Status: Not marked closed; check official information
Location: North I Street, near the Stadium District
Address: 210 N I St, Tacoma, WA, 98403, US
Price: Musicals $33 adults, $31 seniors 60+/students/military, $25 ages 12 and under. Plays $31, $29 and $23. Card orders add a 5% fee plus $0.85 a ticket.
Official information: https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/
Box office: Call (253) 272-2281. Extended hours on performance days.
Performances: Evening and matinee times vary by show. Check the season calendar.

Tacoma Little Theatre started in **October 1918** as the Tacoma chapter of the Drama League of America, which makes it older than most of the buildings around it. In **1940** the company bought a former auto repair shop at **210 North I Street**, a few blocks from its first home in the Stadium District, and has performed there ever since. The first show in the new building was Maxwell Anderson's *Knickerbocker Holiday*.

It is a community theatre in the literal sense: a resident company, a season of musicals and plays, and a house small enough that the back row is still close.

## Paying for it

Adult tickets are **$33 for musicals and $31 for plays**, with senior, student and military rates a couple of dollars lower and children's tickets around $23–$25. Group rates exist for ten or more and are sold through the box office only.

The cheap way in is **pay-what-you-can**: one performance late in each run, typically the third Thursday, with a suggested minimum of **$5**. It is available in person, by phone or online.

Card orders carry a 5% fee plus $0.85 a ticket, and there is no fee for cash or cheque — worth knowing if you are buying a group at the door.

## Before you go

Call the box office on **(253) 272-2281** for seat questions; hours extend on performance days. The theatre sits on a residential block, so plan parking as you would for any North End street rather than a downtown garage.

## Nearby

The Stadium District is a few minutes' walk: [Wright Park](https://tacomairl.com/places/wright-park/), [King's Books](https://tacomairl.com/places/kings-books/) and [The Grand Cinema](https://tacomairl.com/places/grand-cinema/) all sit within a short stroll, which makes a matinee plus a walk and a film a reasonable Saturday. The [Pantages Theater](https://tacomairl.com/places/pantages-theater/) and [Rialto Theater](https://tacomairl.com/places/rialto-theater/) downtown are the larger rooms if you want a touring show instead, and our [rainy Sunday guide](https://tacomairl.com/guides/rainy-sunday/) covers indoor options for the same kind of day.

Image: https://tacomairl.com/images/tacoma-little-theatre.webp
Alt: A blue vertical sign reading Tacoma Little Theatre above a brick wall on a quiet street, with autumn trees and parked cars under a pale evening sky.
Image credit: Photo: Joe Mabel
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tacoma,_WA_-_Tacoma_Little_Theatre.jpg
Image rights: CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
Photo details: https://tacomairl.com/photo-details/tacoma-little-theatre/

## Sources

- [Tacoma Little Theatre: founding date, 1940 move to 210 N I Street and building history](https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/about)
- [Tacoma Little Theatre: ticket prices, pay-what-you-can and card fees](https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/tickets)