Siouxland Magazine - Volume 3 Issue 1

Siouxland Magazine | Inspire /20
James and The Giant Peach 2017
The Arts Tell Us What It Is To be Human
By Dr. Cyndi Hanson
The year was 1978. The characters, Russ & Diana Wooley,
a newly married couple passionate about the performing arts.
The location, Sioux City, Iowa, an area hungry for dinner theatre.
The curtain opened on LAMB Arts Regional Theater in a way
many of us probably don’t know. The small Lamb Productions
started out conducting dinner theatre performances at the old
Hilton Crystal Ballroom. The dinner was served on one end
of the room and the stage production was on the other. A
challenging endeavor.
“We’d wait for their other events to be over, then build the set
and rehearse with only a day or two before a performance. Each
production ran for only two weekends. We did 11 productions
there,” said Diana Wooley.
“We realized it was too much, and considered leaving Sioux
City for a larger city and a different type of venue,” added Russ
Wooley.
getting the show ready. Then one week before we were to
open, I broke my leg and ended up in the hospital. So now,
Russ was running the show, getting the venue ready, and
running to the hospital to check on me. I look back and am
amazed at all the people who came out to help us be ready.
Things I had been trying to do all by myself, now volunteers
were painting the hallways and ironing curtains,” shared Diana.
Public support for the theater has been constant and what kept
the Wooley’s focused on pursuing their passion in Siouxland.
Diana worked in various jobs in the public-school systems
for 22 years, and yet it was difficult to get into the schools to
work with students as a subchapter S corporation. It became
clear that ticket sales alone would not be enough to keep the
business afloat. In 2006, they became a non-profit organization
known as Lamb Arts Regional Theater.
It was at that time, Marvin and Frances Kline intervened and
partnered with the Wooleys to keep Lamb Productions in Sioux
City. For the next year-and-half, the company did not know
where to go. They looked at several old schools, abandoned
churches, and other structures. Then in the fall of 1986, they
leased Webster school. The ambitious couple set out to open
their first show in January 1987.
“There was a lot to be done. I was rushing around to get the
public areas presentable, while Russ was rehearsing and
Metamorphoses 2017