Greenville Little Theatre has been around for more than 90 years, but people still get confused about what kind of theater it is.

Executive Artistic Director Allen McCalla has lost count of how many times he’s had to clarify its community-theater mission to folks in Greenville.

“Probably between the box office, and board members in the community, and me in the community and on the phone, probably four or five times a week, somebody confuses us with the Children’s Theatre,” McCalla said recently. “We’ve had people show up for a Children’s Theatre show here. We tell them, no, that’s not it, but it’s because the word ‘little’ is in it.”

The solution: A name modification and a slight rebranding. It’s a “little” theater no longer; McCalla announced Saturday evening that it will now be known as Greenville Theatre, with a logo that’s nearly identical to its current one.

Over the past 18 months, Greenville Theatre leadership has been engaged in strategic planning, looking toward its centennial in 2026. The theater name was an important piece of the plan, McCalla said.

Other news:Greenville's 2019 entertainment calendar has lots to offer, from music to comedy

In making the decision to change the name, they surveyed audiences, interviewed people in the community and consulted a branding expert. The overwhelming favorite was the simplest one, just drop the word in the middle and become Greenville Theatre.

The modification allows the theater to keep its “brand equity” and pays tribute to its history, said Emily Dymski, director of marketing and development for Greenville Theatre.

In the theater’s early years, the “little theater movement” was popular around the country, as a way to differentiate community theaters from touring productions. Theaters were branded “little” to distinguish them from the “big theaters” in New York, McCalla said.

This isn’t Greenville Theatre’s first name change. It came to life in 1926 as Greenville Artists Guild, and a couple years later became The Little Theatre of Greenville, South Carolina, and a few years after that, it changed to Greenville Little Theatre.

Over the coming months, the theater will revise most of the signage to reflect the new name, but there will also be a push to let folks know about the changes.

“We’re really not changing who we are,” McCalla said. “We’re modifying the name to reflect better who we are.”

The name change was announced at Greenville Theatre’s 2019-2020 season announcement event Saturday, and the new moniker and logo will adorn the posters and promotional materials for the coming season’s productions.

The season will feature three regular-season musicals, plus the holiday musical “A Christmas Carol.”

Disney’s "Newsies” will open the season in September, followed by the mystery-comedy “The Game’s Afoot,” which tells the story of an American actor famed for playing Sherlock Holmes on the stage.

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” which McCalla describes as a “fun, funny musical” will be followed by “The Dixie Swim Club,” a story of female friendship that’s reminiscent of “Steel Magnolias.”

Next season closes out with the Broadway musical “The Producers.”

The 2019-’20 season’s concert series features musical tributes to Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, and John Denver.