River Valley Players was founded in 1973; but the first business meeting was not held till November 1974.  The first musical produced was "Fantastics", and the first dinner theater was "Last of the Red Hot Lovers."   In 1978, the name "River Valley Players" was chosen.  The River Valley Players became a member of the Iowa Community Theater Association in 1979.  In 1983, RVP began making offers to buy a new theater, but discovered it would be too costly to remodel.  In 1986, RVP and other volunteers began remodeling the Intermission Theater.

     The RVP left the old theater in 1989.  The RVP started to offer their $100 scholarship to graduating high school seniors in 1990.  In 1994, the 20th anniversary of RVP was celebrated, and the drama scholarship was raised to $250.  In 1998, RVP donated $15,000 to the construction of a new auditorium in the school.  The first production in the new auditorium was "State Fair" in 1999.  RVP performed at Ragbrai when it came through in 1999.  Rvp has donated over $60,000in equipment and upgrades to Forster Auditorium at CL.