The Rep: Staff, Volunteers’ Celebrate 60 Years On Stage

Originally posted on the Webster-Kirkwood Times website July 13, 2026

In the mid-1960s, hotel magnate Conrad Hilton gifted $1.5 million to the Sisters of Loretto for construction of a new center for the performing arts — future home to The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis

What do actors Meredith Baxter, Imogene Coca, Georgia Engel, John Goodman, Julie Harris, Holly Hunter, Lucy Liu and Kathleen Turner have in common? 

Each has performed at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in Webster Groves. And local resident Joneal Joplin is a seasoned favorite with over 100 shows under his belt. 

Commemorating 60 years of stage productions, entertainment and education, The Rep is a professional theatrical organization — and local treasure — located on the campus of Webster University.

Setting The Stage

In the mid-1960s, The Rep was merely a gleam in the eye of a Sisters of Loretto nun known as Sister Marita, who was determined to find a suitable year-round venue for her theater students at Webster College  (now Webster University). 

Lacking funds but not determination, the tenacious nun and college administrator appealed to hotel magnate Conrad Hilton for financial support. Ever grateful for the high quality of early education he received from the Sisters of Loretto, Hilton contributed $1.5 [million] to the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts and home of The Rep.

…

Read “The Rep: Staff, Volunteers’ Celebrate 60 Years On Stage.”