Welcome to the Verna Leith Sawmill Theatre!
General Theater Information: Ticket price is listed by each show with evening performances typically beginning now at 7 pm and matinees beginning at 2 pm, but please see the show schedule below for details for each performance. 
Tickets are available by ordering online, by calling (814) 927-6655, or by email. Emailed reservations are not guaranteed until you receive a confirmation by return email or by phone.
Click here to view events available on Eventbrite and reserve online.
Verna Leith Sawmill Theatre
at 170 Sawmill Lane, Cooksburg, PA 16217
Contact the Cook Forest Sawmill Center for the Arts at 814-927-6655 or info@sawmill.org
Van Dyke & Co. presents Tropical Sunrise Spring Dance Showcase 2026.
Plus Mahoning Valley Ballet. Suitable for the entire family.
July 1, 2 & 3, 2026
7:00 pm
Synopsis: In Victorian England, repressed impulses burst their corsets as Dr. Jekyll’s experiments into the nature of evil threaten to reveal the bloody hands beneath the gloves of the British Empire. A fast-paced romp about men and women tightrope walking the line between aristocracy and depravity, and between the twin spectres of good and evil.
Audience Suitability: PG-13 for comic violence
July 17th Dinner and a Show
Dinner served at 5:30pm-6pm in the Sawmill Classroom. Catered by Montana's Country Cafe. Menu includes Stuffed Chicken Breast, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, dinner roll and drink. Dinner and Show $35.
Synopsis: Pedro, Ben and Claude discover that while they've been away at the Civil War, Betty and the other womenfolk have been doing all of the roping and ranching. This Western romp is inspired from Shakespeare's hilarious battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing." Despite how much the cowpokes and the ladies of the ranch taunt each other, love seems to be in the air. Claude falls head over heels in love with Winny, a lovely Southern belle, but Calamity Jane, a rambunctious tomboy, secretly longs for Claude's affections and is bent on stirring up a big bowl of trouble when she doesn't get her way. Meanwhile, Ben and Betty are arch-rivals, only happy when they are insulting each other...or is it just their way of masking their deeply guarded feelings for one another?
Audience Suitability: All Ages
Friends of Cook Forest presents a Bluegrass Concert featuring the Keister Family Band at Verna Leith Theatre! Door opens at 6:00 pm. Concert from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Proceeds benefit Friends of Cook Forest.
Suitability: All Ages
July 26th Lunch and a Show
Lunch is served from 12:30pm-1pm in the Sawmill Classroom. Catered by Montana's Country Cafe. Menu includes Pulled Pork Sandwich, baked beans, macaroni salad, dessert and drink. Lunch and Show $35.
Synopsis: the era that brought the world the Rubik's Cube, Max Headroom, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes the "totally awesome". in the style of movies such as Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Karate Kid, back to the 80's is a nostalgic ramp through the greatest hits of the decade. Back to the 80's tells the story of the senior class of William Ocean High School, as remembered through the eyes of now thirty-something Corey Palmer. Seventeen-year-old Corey is madly in love with his next door neighbor, Tiffany Houston, one of the coolest girls in the school, but she's too busy mooning over Michael Feldman, the hottest guy around. Michael and his friends are athletic and good looking - the kind of guys that Corey and his two best friends dream of being. However, while they may not be the coolest guys in school, they are still one up on Feargal McFerrin, III, whose best friend is his computer and who believes the crazy notion that one day, CDs will replace cassette tapes.
Suitability: All Ages
Please check back for Play Announcement.
Great Gift or Memorial for a Loved One
The Verna Leith Sawmill Theatre is offering the purchase of name plates to be attached to either a seat ($250) or to a plaque ($100) hung on the wall of theater. All contributions are tax deductible. Please call us for more information.
Sawmill Theatre History
In 1981, the Sawmill Theatre was opened in the museum section of the old Sawmill, using church pews and camp chairs for seating. Soon the need for a larger theater was evident. In 1984, the Verna Leith Sawmill Theatre was constructed with monies from the Appalachian Regional Commission and Pennsylvania State Appropriations. First of it's kind in the Eastern U.S., the theater's unique hexagon shape and harmonious blend with the natural settings earned designer William Snyder the 1984 design award from the Arts Architectural Commission of Pennsylvania. Details such as professional lighting, side decks, ticket office, and interior restrooms were added in 1988. Theater patrons find themselves seated on newly refurbished seats from the Silver Fox Playhouse in Foxburg. Offering mystery, comedy, and major Broadway musicals, Northwestern Pennsylvania theater groups perform from late May through mid-September.