Sunset Playhouse

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Sunset Playhouse is believed to be haunted by local actor Lester L. Schultz, nicknamed Pinky, who died of a heart attack as he left the stage in 1968. He was a former Marine who had been with the playhouse since 1960. His ghost continues to be accepted and active in the theater, and he likes to play pranks just like he did in life. One time when a group was sitting in the boardroom, the doors suddenly slammed.

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    Geographic Information

    Address:
    800 Elm Grove Rd
    Elm Grove, WI 53122
    United States

    Get Directions »
    GPS:
    43.03981, -88.077605
    County:
    Waukesha County, Wisconsin
    Nearest Towns:
    Elm Grove, WI (0.2 mi.)
    Brookfield, WI (2.0 mi.)
    Wauwatosa, WI (3.6 mi.)
    West Allis, WI (3.9 mi.)
    Butler, WI (4.6 mi.)
    New Berlin, WI (4.6 mi.)
    West Milwaukee, WI (5.6 mi.)
    Greenfield, WI (6.3 mi.)
    Hales Corners, WI (7.2 mi.)
    Greendale, WI (8.0 mi.)

    Contact Information

    Web:
    http://www.sunsetplayhouse.com/

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    Comments (4)

    1. Oh, Pinky is definitely a presence at the theater. From all accounts he is a benevolent and light-hearted spirit. I know no one who was scared by him. My own experience – I had been up in the loft hanging costumes. I paused, gazing down upon the empty house illuminated only by the “ghost light” on stage. And then I spotted a suited man in Seat A5. He turned, rested his arm on the adjacent seat back and looked up at me. As I leaned through the opening to get a better look, he smiled. I called out to him, “Mr. Schultz!’ But then he faded quite away. I suffered neither goose bumps nor shivers. I was just so pleased that he had chosen me, ordinary me, to visit.

    2. Pinky was my father. He had a great love and passion for acting and the Sunset Playhouse. While he passed way too soon, leaving a young family behind, the Sunset was the ideal place to “check out”. Back in 1968, he was cast as one of card playing buddies in the Odd Couple. He had a heart attack during a performance and died stage right. While not always too keen on the Halloween takes on Pinky that pops up every few Octobers or so, the fact that people think of him so frequently is heartwarming to us. Not many people other that family members know this, but shortly after he died, his Sunset friends planted a tree in his memory. It’s located on the north side of the Playhouse. I took a picture of the “Pink” flowering tree today. Here it is. And for you Pinky… you keep right on having fun with your Sunset friends. Were holding our own here on the other side!

    3. Was doing a show here, must have been a bit before Halloween because I remember we opened in early October, and the set was already built by that point (don’t remember whether or not we were open yet at this point). Was hanging out on stage with a couple of cast mates (okay so probably either tech week or the week before), one of whom was wearing some brand new light-up shoes. We’d heard the stories about Pinky, and were somewhat jokingly trying to summon him, but for some reason none of us could remember his name. We asked, and waited a few seconds, then noticed that one of the lights on my friend’s shoe had turned pink. No matter what she did to change the light colors, that one single light stayed pink the whole night. None of us thought of it as a paranormal experience at the time, but I’d like to think he was playing a little joke on us. There’s no other explanation I can personally come up with.

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