Ninety Years and Counting: Local Theater Group Thrives

Lifelong Player Erik Hodges appearing as Marley’s Ghost in the group’s 2010 world premier production of A Christmas Carol: The Musical Ghost Storyby local composer Joel Mercier.

The Community Players of Concord NH has been a local institution for more than ninety years. Founded in 1927 with a mission “… to encourage, foster and promote the participation by amateurs in all phases of the theatrical arts …,” the Players is among the oldest performing arts organizations in the state.

The group typically produces three main stage shows per calendar year at the 800-seat Concord City Auditorium (“the Audi”) in November, February and May.  Traditionally, the fall show is a large-scale musical.  The winter and spring shows might be anything at all: comedy, drama, mystery, musical, or whatever the muses decree.  

The group’s Children’s Theatre Project (CTP), founded in 1996, offers one-week theatre camps in spring and summer, and mounts a main stage production – “by children, for children” – at the Audi in October.  Recent CTP shows have included The Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, and Frozen, Jr.

In addition to its main stage shows, the Players have a long history of producing smaller-scale shows at a variety of local venues.  The founding of the 90-seat Hatbox Theatre in 2016 has provided an ideal venue for some of these smaller shows.  The Players have mounted at least one show at the Hatbox every year since the theatre’s inception.

The Players offer a variety of workshops and training opportunities to the public at little or no cost.  Past workshops have included acting, auditioning, directing, playwriting, and a variety of technical topics (lighting, sound, set design, etc).

Since 1997, the Players have had their own home: the Players Studio on Josiah Bartlett Road.  The Studio provides space for rehearsals and set construction, and also houses the group’s extensive collections of costumes, props, set pieces and furniture, as well as a theatrical library.  Other local theatre groups, schools, and non-profits borrow freely from the Players’ inventory.

For more information about the Community Players of Concord NH, visit communityplayersofconcord.org

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