Playhouse founders Gregory Peck, Mel Ferrer and Dorothy McGuire began the company in 1947 because of an affinity and nostalgia for the stage and for the intimacy of live audiences. Plays were performed at La Jolla High School auditorium, and famed actors and celebrities drew large crowds to the company originally titled “The Actors Company." The final season of the Playhouse's run at La Jolla High School was in 1964. In 1983, the Playhouse reopened with the introduction of the Mandell Weiss Theatre and the premiere of Peter Sellar's production of Bertolt Brecht's WWII-set play The Visions of Simone Machard.