Opinions differ on the official first year of summer stock, but most sources date it to 1897 when George Edeson directed the season.
The most-comprehensive book on the history of the theatre, Denver’s Historic Elitch Theatre: A Nostalgic Journey by Theodore A. Borrillo, dates 1897 as the first season and he notes George Edeson’s participation as director the first two years. “The summer of 1898 was the second season that Elitch had its own resident stock company. George Edeson returned as director of the season’s plays.” [Borrillo, p. 34]
Additionally, in an 1955 article for the The Princeton University Library Chronicle, the authors also suggest it was 1897:
“Devotees of the straw hat circuit are usually under the impression that the summer theater movement originated when certain daft individuals began producing plays in barns. The true beginning was in the theater built by John and Mary Elitch on their ranch at Denver, Colorado, in 1891. After several seasons of vaudeville and light opera, the stock company inaugurated the 1897 season with its first dramatic performance. The director was George Edeson, with James O’Neill, father of dramatist Eugene O’Neill, as leading man. An unbroken series of successful seasons followed. This, then, is the oldest summer stock theater.”
[“Summer Theatre U.S.A., 1955”. The Princeton University Library Chronicle. Vol. 17, No. 1 (AUTUMN 1955): 49–54. 1955.]
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