The Washington Little Theater Company was established in 1971 by a group of creative individuals who wished to foster, encourage and promote the development of regional talent in the dramatic arts. Their mission was accomplished, at first, under humble circumstances by renting vacant storefronts and school auditoriums around the city to host productions.

By 1974, an agreement was made with the Wilkes County Board of Education to lease the North Alexander School Gym (a National Register - listed property built in 1930), which became the permanent home of the Washington Little Theater. With help from the University of Georgia, a Macon movie house and Six Flags Amusement Park, construction materials, theater seats and curtains were brought in to modify the space from basketball courts to a professional functioning theater venue complete with staging, costume storage, dressing rooms, ticket booth, reception lobby and light and sound booths.

In 2008, the theater building was dedicated as the Bolton Lunceford Playhouse after the late Bolton Lunceford, a distinguished member who proved to be pivotal in sustaining the theater over the course of her lifetime.