Pantagraph

Community Players has several distinctions. It is one of the oldest community theatres completely staffed by volunteers. Community Players has been able to present many shows shortly after their Broadway run and, on many occasions, presented the first amateur production of these shows in the United States. Many students from Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University supplemented their education by working on shows at Community Players. The theatre has provided opportunities for anyone from McLean County and the surrounding communities to display their talents in plays, musicals, and children's productions. Moreover, from time to time, the amateur experience has encouraged someone to attempt a theatrical career by either returning to school or auditioning for theatres in Chicago, St. Louis or other cities.

Famous authors and composers have had their material realized on the stage at Community Players. Community Players produces two or three musicals each season by such noted writers/composers as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Stephen Sondheim, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Frank Loesser, and Cole Porter. Plays by Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Ken Ludwig, Neil Simon, Agatha Christie, Aaron Sorkin and many other contemporary authors are included each season.

As an amateur theatre group, Community Players encourages everyone in the area to volunteer for staff positions, audition for upcoming productions (for either on stage, backstage, or the orchestras) and, of course, join us in the audience for all shows. It has been an eventful and exciting continuous journey.



*adapted from writings by By Bruce Parrish, Historian and Anthony Holloway, Board of Governors Emeritus