Ann Eddy Gray directed a group of young people in 1947 in Pure of the Driven Snow. They performed their show at the Masonic Temple, located at 318 on Locust Street in DeKalb. The performers enjoyed themselves so much that they asked Gray to form a theatre group.

Gray approached John Ellwood and requested the use of the loft in the barn on the Ellwood’s Ilehamwood Farm, located on North First Street.  After receiving permission from Ellwood, his mother, May Ellwood (née Gurler), gave the group the use of the Ellwood’s stage coach, which became their box office for performances in the barn.

Henceforth, the performance group was known as the Stage Coach Players, as it is to this day.