In 1946, students from UCLA, including William Schallert, Jerry Epstein, Kathleen Freeman, Sid Rushakoff, and Sydney Earle Chaplin, moved on from their first location, a friend's living room, after their successful production of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine.
Their new location was a converted corner grocery store at Waring and El Centro Ave., which they named The Circle.
Bob Burns, their main lighting technician, coordinated the conversion with the help of newcomer Jack Kelly.
"- Patterson Greene, Theatre Arts, June 1961.The cast of Ethan Frome, the first show performed at The Circle, was as follows: Charlie Chaplin allowed access to his props for the production.
[5] The theatre changed hands in the mid-1960s and housed many small companies until 1976 when Ted Schmitt took over the space.
After a series of unsuccessful renovations, Red Dog Squadron announced in an August 2018 newsletter that the theatre had been resold in early 2018.