Dan Whitley renovated the old Power Plant disco club at the south end of Cottonwood Mall and opened it as the Lighthouse Theatre.  The opening production was “The Christmas Stranger” on 28 November 1995.  The theater-in-the-round was named “Lighthouse” because the free-standing building was originally a power generating plant. Whitley, a voice coach and musician, previously leased the Broadway Stage.^[1][2][3]

The Academy of Performing Arts performed stage plays in the Lighthouse Theatre for several months before a new owner told them in January 2000 to vacate the building.^[4][5]

1. "Playing for the Holidays", Deseret News, 17 November 1995, page W1
2. "Fall Theater Season Gets Under Way", Deseret News, 1 September 1995, page W1
3. "Stage, performing arts groups offer a schedule of auditions", Deseret News, 11 April 1997, page W6
4. "Theater school needs home", Deseret News, 6 March 2000, page A10
5. "'Tempest' fund-raiser", Deseret News, 19 July 2000, page C7