The city of Crestwood is preparing to discuss design plans for a Family Games Center with architects. At the Crestwood Board of Aldermen’s April 28 meeting, Mayor Scott Shipley posed a question to the board: Should the Whitecliff Summer Playhouse’s stage be part of that discussion?

For over three decades, Whitecliff Summer Playhouse and its theater production group, Playhouse Productions, have been putting on shows for the people of Crestwood. Occasionally, the city will host concerts in the park at that stage.

“(The stage) is not very impressive, but it works,” Shipley said. “It doesn’t have to be fancy, but (it could be) something permanent with a better location.”

All discussions are preliminary — the board is making no final decisions, but merely posing the idea to architects. Shipley added that representatives from Whitecliff Summer Playhouse would be involved in the discussion at some point to see if it addresses their needs.

Ideas for the playhouse included a roofed stage and a possible relocation. According to Shipley, the “grand vision” in the Parks Master Plan is to put an amphitheater in Whitecliff Park at the “sledding hill,” which is a natural bowl-like area of the park. He says it’s a large chunk of green space, but it could potentially be the site of a relocated Whitecliff Summer Playhouse.

Across the board, city aldermen were largely interested in talking to architects about a new stage design.

“It’s such a fixture in our history here that doing something would be quite nice for that community,” Ward 1 Alderman Jesse Morrison said.

Ward 2 Alderperson Rebecca Now and Ward 4 Alderman John Sebben said they would prefer it in the playhouse’s current location, instead of taking up the green space on the sledding hill. Ward 3 Alderman Grant Mabie and Ward 4 Alderwoman Megan Gadallah were more in favor of relocating the playhouse to the sledding hill, where an amphitheater could be constructed in the future.

In relation to the stage being included with the Family Games Center, Shipley added, “It goes without saying that it’ll cost some money, so we might be making trade-offs on something.”