The Pure Schmint Players were part of the counterculture surging out of the Sixties. Radical forms of improvisation and revived traditions, some influenced by psychedelic drug use, revolutionized theater and dance across the planet. Examples in the Humboldt area include Jane Lapiner and David Simpson’s, Human Nature Theater Company, The Feet First Dancers, the Mateel Community Center-based Recycled Youth, and Dell’Arte International in Blue Lake. 

By the early 80’s, the troupe of self-taught thespian hippies had become the theatrical voice of the region’s back-to-the-land hippie settlers.