In the spring of 1997, Dr. Kent Lawrence, the then-interim pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos, began the groundwork to present a musical at PCLG. The chosen production was Rogers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. Working with very limited resources, Kent managed to "pull off" a major coup, producing a very creditable production in September of 1997.

Dr. Lawrence's next production was Lionel Bart's Oliver!.   Working, again, with limited resources, preparations for this production included some modifications of the PCLG Social Hall (stage improvements and rewiring) and the addition of lighting bars in the ceiling to replace the "trees" that had been used for The Sound of Music. The 40+-member cast presented three performances on September 16, 17, 18 to three sold-out houses of very appreciative audiences.

Since Dr. Lawrence was our interim pastor and it was expected that a permanent pastor would be chosen within the next six months, it looked like this was probably the last production of this kind that PCLG would see.

Not content to see a good thing end, soon after Oliver! closed a small group of folks who had been involved in the previous shows developed the idea of creating a chartered drama group at PCLG to continue Dr. Lawrence's tradition of presenting Broadway shows using the PCLG congregation and facilities.  After several weeks of effort, planning, and coordination, the PCLG Session chartered the Shoestring Theatre Company of PCLG in December of 1998.

The Shoestring Theatre Company's charter explains what we do, how we do it, and describes our relationship with the rest of the PCLG community.