The Little Theatre, located in the rear of Riley Hall, serves WPI's primary theatre performance space. It opened in November of 2005 and continues to serve as a world class intimate theatre setting.
"Sanford Riley Hall was completed in September of 1927 (Archives)." At this time, the basement housed several offices and rooms. What is today Riley Commons was split into a common room and a larger dining room. The Little Theatre space was known solely as the service wing. The Journal, in October of 1927, notes the service wing as "divided into a main kitchen, a cold meats and salad kitchen, dish washing room, chef's room and help's dining room." The main kitchen was "fully equipped with gas ranges, broiler and roaster, gas oven, kettle and steamer, pot sink, baker's table, meat bench and block, bread mixer, cupboards and refrigerator."
At a later time, the space became known as The Goat's Head Pub. Among other things, alcohol was sold here. However, Massachusetts increased the drinking age from 18 to 21 on April 16th of 1979. Sometime after, the Goat's Head Pub became Gompei's Place. More recent graduates recall Gompei's Pizza. There was a counter, a few tables and chairs, and it looked like a mini-restaurant. Before we took over the space, it was being used merely for storage of chairs and various other things.
There was a drop ceiling with missing ceiling tiles and wires hanging out of the ceiling. It was very dirty and dark, with holes in the walls and a low ceiling. Tables and chairs were piled up alongside boxes and other things. The tile on the floor was checkered and unimpressive. Today the space has transformed into a wonderful theatre.
Want to know more? check out the Little Theatre Introduction from the E-term 2005 IQP that started it all.