The Next Act: How the Playmill Theatre is carrying 60 years of memories into a new home

ISLAND PARK, ID (KIFI) — For generations, the Playmill Theatre has been a beloved place for families to find sanctuary in the summertime. Now, as the curtain rises on its new theater in Island Park, the most important traditions are coming with it.

Some places become more than buildings, and some traditions become more than the dates we mark on a calendar. They become part of the way a family remembers a summer, the place where a child first discovers a passion, or the familiar face that appears year after year until a stranger becomes an old friend. For more than six decades, the Playmill Theatre has held that place in the lives of generations of families who came to the Mountain West looking for an evening of entertainment and found, perhaps without realizing it at first, something that lasted far longer than the curtain call.

Now, the Playmill is stepping into its next act. Its new home in Island Park is nearly five times larger than the original. The stage is bigger. The possibilities are stronger.

But the story it carries with it is the same one that began in 1964.

ANY DREAM WILL DO: A HUMBLE BEGINNING TO WESTERN TRADITION

The vision began on June 20, 1964, in West Yellowstone, Montana, when a group of BYU theater students discovered an abandoned pharmacy left behind after the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake. They saw potential for creating a stage in this space. Though their initial production was modest, especially compared to the productions that would come later, the idea behind it was significant: live theater could thrive anywhere, even in a region better known for its mountains, rivers, and its entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Now, more than 60 years later, the Playmill still tells stories to almost 80,000 visitors per summer, although the building where those first audiences gathered no longer carries the weight of its future.

For families who have returned to the theater over the decades, however, the Playmill's history is not measured simply in years.

It can be found in a collection of old programs tucked away in a cabin drawer.

Kyndal Baker still has one from 1981, a small pamphlet of papers that connects her family to a tradition that began years before she was born. Her grandparents had been attending the Playmill since around 1969, while other families remember going back even farther. Erin Madsen's parents believe they may have been among the audience when the theater opened in 1964, while Jim and his family have been making the trip for roughly 35 years.

That is how the Playmill grew: not only by putting on shows, but by becoming something families sauntered to.

Children who once watched from booster seats eventually came back with children of their own. Vacations were planned around performances, and familiar faces appeared in the audience year after year. The scenery changed, the performers rotated, and the years passed, but there was comfort in returning to a place where, for a few hours, life seemed willing to slow down.

David Walker, one of the theater's longtime and renowned performers, has spent more than 25 years connected to the Playmill. For him, the theater became the place where he learned his craft, grew as a performer, and formed relationships that outlasted individual seasons.

He does not describe it simply as a workplace.

He calls it home.

That sense of belonging is part of what has kept audiences coming back. Annie Dalling says she returns because of the magic she finds both on the stage and behind it. Lynn Arbon has watched the tradition continue for decades and describes the people associated with the theater as an extended family. For the Madsen family, the Playmill represents a tradition worth passing from one generation to another — a place where wholesome entertainment can become part of a family's shared history.

And for Walker, there is something particularly meaningful about performing for an audience that returns.

The actors may be different, but the relationship between the stage and the people sitting in front of it remains.

A FAMILY LEGACY

Behind that relationship is another story, one that is itself part of the Playmill's history.

Roger and Heidi Merrill's lives became intertwined with the theater long before they became its owners. Roger attended the Playmill as a child and began performing on its stage in 1985. Heidi performed there in 1986. They met that summer, began dating, married the following year, and eventually built their lives and family around the same place where their story had begun.

In 2005, they officially took over the Playmill.

For the Merrills, keeping the theater alive was never simply a business decision. It became a commitment that shaped their family, their careers, and much of their lives. Heidi acknowledges there were times when they considered walking away, but each time they returned to the same conviction — that what they were doing mattered, and that the Playmill was supposed to continue past them.

TIME CATCHES UP

However, sentiment alone could not solve the problem of a tired facility.

The original Playmill building was never designed to become the theater it eventually was. Before audiences filled its seats, the building had served other purposes, including a drugstore, a bingo parlor, and a post office dating back to the 1930s. Over time, its walls accumulated evidence of generations who had passed through: signatures, ticket stubs, and the small marks left behind by performers who understood they were becoming part of something older than themselves.

Varied imperfections were part of the theater's charm, but they also reminded people of its limitations.

Eventually, the building could no longer carry the ambitions of the people trying to preserve what made the Playmill special.

“If Playmill was to progress and remain positive for cast and audience, we had to do something different; we had to do something more,” Roger Merrill said.

NOSTALGIA BECOMES A COMPASS

The decision that followed required the kind of courage that is often difficult to recognize when what's changing is something people love.

The Merrills chose not to preserve the old building exactly as it was. Instead, they chose to preserve what the building had come to mean. Nostalgia was not to become a cage but a compass.

Construction began on a new theater in Island Park, Idaho, a building nearly five times larger than the original. There would be more seats, more space, and more opportunity, but the purpose was not simply to build a bigger theater. It was to create a home capable of carrying the Playmill into the next generations.

“We were literally outgrowing the space,” Roger said. “We wanted to accommodate our dreams and our goals. And so that's why we decided to move.”

Heidi describes the decision in simple terms that reach beyond construction and expansion.

“We dedicated our lives to this place so that it could go on without us,” she said.

That may be the most important part of the Playmill's next act.

FAITH AND FOUNDATION PREPARING THE STRUCTURE

A theater is made of wood, steel, concrete, and lights, but a tradition is made of people. The new building may have a larger stage and more room for an audience, yet the memories that made the Playmill important did not remain behind in West Yellowstone. They travel with the people who carried them.

They are in the family that still keeps an old program from 1981.

They are in the parents who remember bringing their children and the children who now bring theirs.

They are in the actors who return because they still love the unique connection with Playmill audiences.

And they are in the people who spent decades believing that a small theater in the mountains could matter.

The Playmill's next act, then, is not really about leaving its past behind.

It is about making room for it.

NEW WAYS TO DREAM: THE NEXT ACT

The new theater in Island Park represents a future large enough to hold the stories still waiting to be told, while the traditions that brought audiences through the doors for more than 60 years remain at its center. The stage is larger now, but the reason people gather around it has not changed.

There will still be children leaning forward in their seats, families laughing together and performers waiting in the wings for their cue. There will still be people who arrive as strangers and leave knowing one another's names. There will still be the expectation that, for an evening, the outside world can wait.

And perhaps that is why the Playmill has endured.

Not because the building stayed the same, but because the feeling did.

From the small wooden stage that opened in West Yellowstone in 1964 to the new theater rising in Island Park more than six decades later, the Playmill's greatest performance has never belonged entirely to the people onstage. It belongs to the generations who kept coming back, the performers who gave pieces of themselves to the work, and the families who decided this place was worth making part of their story.

The building has changed.

The stage has grown.

And the story continues.

After 60 years, the curtain is rising once again, and the Playmill begins its next act.

What’s Next Onstage: 

As the inaugural summer season wraps up this Labor Day weekend, the Playmill Theatre is excited to announce the opening of its first fall production, “The Foreigner.” This marks an ambitious step towards becoming a year-round theatre destination. Tickets are now available for this fan-favorite show, as well as for “A Very Playmill Christmas,” an original play created specifically for Playmill audiences. This holiday production will offer more opportunities for families to create lasting traditions. To purchase tickets for the remaining shows of the 2026 season and to learn more about the Playmill’s 2027 season, visit their website here. 

In addition to the new theatre complex, the Playmill will also expand its offerings with a brand-new restaurant, Steakhouse 64, and a unique antique and gift shop, Mill Creek Mercantile. Click here to read the previous article about these newest additions. 

Thank you to Film Garage 208, Josh Sales Films, Sam Merrill, and Travis Gugleman for their additional footage and photos for this story.