 Both the company and its theatre were renamed the Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown in 1991 to honor the actress Lucille Ball, Jamestown's most famous resident.Ball got her acting start with the company's precursor The Players Club and returned in 1945 to perform in a series of skits with the company in Chautauqua's Smith-Wilkes Hall.Throughout her life, she would send the company cash donations as well as costumes from her television and film career.