Main St. in Klamath Falls, Oregon is a four lane one way street. It is lined with numerous restaurants, various stores, and miscellaneous other businesses. At the corner of 2nd St. and Main is a small unobtrusive façade that is the entrance to the Linkville Theater. Charles Cossey and Sylvia Cook are in
the lobby of the Linkville Playhouse busily painting a mixture of wood glue and water on muslin stretched over four by eight foot wooden frames. These double sided frames are used as canvas for painting the scenes. The smell of glue and sound of brushes scraping over the muslin are obvious in this small intimate lobby. As Charles begins to speak, the listener is taken back to the beginning of the Linkville Players and can see the history of this small community theater. When the Linkville Players first began performing in the Klamath Basin, the group had no home. They performed their plays wherever they could find space. This included the library and the old Willard Hotel. 
For the first ten years, the group performed only comedies and mysteries and then added melodramas. It wasn’t until 1972 that musicals were included. It was also during this time that dramas were added to the program. Each season, the Linkville Players would stage three to four serious dramas and a musical.
For the first ten years, the group performed only comedies and mysteries and then added melodramas. It wasn’t until 1972 that musicals were included. It was also during this time that dramas were added to the program. Each season, the Linkville Players would stage three to four serious dramas and a musical. It was in the 1970s that the Linkville board was replaced with new members. The library, where most of the organization’s plays were performed, was purchased by city hall in 1980, which left fewer places to perform. The number of plays was reduced and nothing of consequence was performed from 1980 through 1985. It was then that Bogatay Construction purchased the Willard Hotel.
Built in 1926 by Willard Miller, the hotel stood for nearly 60 years when the Bogatay Construction Company purchased it.
The hardwood floors of the hotel can be seen today in the lobby and theater of the Linkville. The Players finally had a permanent home and were able to perform more plays each year.
"It (the hotel) was converted into the theater by the volunteer help of people who could do things like welding the grid iron where the catwalk is upstairs and building the seats and putting in the risers...so it has been a group community effort."
Charles Cossey
The hardwood floors of the hotel can be seen today in the lobby and theater of the Linkville. The Players finally had a permanent home and were able to perform more plays each year. Today the Linkville Players perform theatrical productions from the middle of September through the middle of June. The performances are staged on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights with one or two Sunday matinees. Most productions run four weeks, but this season the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown will run for five weeks. The group now does a musical each year, however, recently they have begun staging two each year. They begin the season with a musical because musicals are the biggest money makers in the Klamath Falls area of any genre of plays. This year there are also two readers’ theaters where the players read excerpts of longer works, prose, and poetry. In April the Linkville Players will reenact the 1938 Orson Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds.
Community theater is non-profit so the players, musicians, and production crew donate their time and effort. Only the director receives a small stipend which is usually eaten up by props that are purchased for the play. The actors do this for the love of the theater.
“I enjoy it so much I don’t care if it’s a lead role. I don’t care if it’s a small role; it’s just something I enjoy doing.”
Sean Connelly The Linkville used to suffer from opening night blues because attendance was very poor. Two ladies associated with the theater, Nikki Nordquist and Alexa Hart, decided something had to be done, so they made cookies and punch that were served during intermission. This addition of food and drink was a huge success and later became a tradition. Today the Linkville serves gourmet hors d'oeuvres with champagne and sparkling cider before the play on opening night. This practice has taken opening night attendance from 25 to 30 people to a 113 people. Since the Linkville seats only 131 patrons, this is a huge leap in attendance.
