Palo Alto Players

From Palo Alto Wiki

The Players performing The Boyfriend in 2002. Photo: Palo Alto Players

Palo Alto Players is the oldest theater group on the Peninsula at 76 years old. The organization has weathered both the Great Depression and recessions throughout history. It is made up both of actors who enjoy acting after work or aspire to a career on the stage.

The theater group has consistently put on well-regarded shows, staging comedies, dramas and musicals in a blend of classic and current. The Players look for a timeless script with a good story when deciding what to perform next.^[1]

The Players' success has also been fueled by the Lucie Stern Theater on Middlefield Road. Many theater groups struggle for space in the pricy Bay Area. For instance, the Menlo Players Guild lost the Burgess Theater when it was demolished in 2002 after structural damage.

1 History
2 Famous Palo Alto Players
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] History

Througout its history, the Players have faced challenges such as the loss of cast and crew members to wartime drafts and government funding to Prop. 13.

In 1931, the group, then known as the Palo Alto Community Players, put on the melodrama "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" and other shows in teh Community House (now MacArthur Park Restaraunt). Admission was a quarter, and the sets were made with wrapping paper.^[2]

Lucie Stern Theatre

The location was hardly ideal. Lucie Stern, theater patron and philanthropist, stepped in during the hard times of the Depression. She donated $44,000 to build a new theater, and teh city gave land in Rinconada Park. The 428-seat Spanish-Mission-style theater opened in 1933.

In 1936, the Players agreed to become a municipal entity, allowing them to enjoy ample city funding.

As the company grew, it started the Palo Alto Teen Players in 1948 (which lasted about 20 years), and added musicals to its seasons beginning in the '50s.

The city continued underwriting all the Players' productions until 1974, when the group became an independent entity. Some city support has continued (for example, the city still pays for the theater's electricity).

In 1986, the Players received by charitable donation the historic Fox Theater in downtown Redwood City. This opened up a new community performance venue. A new branch of the company was created - Peninsula Center Stage (PCS) - which began with three seasons of open-air performances called Shakespeare-at-Woodside (1988-1990). In 1991, and in addition to its programming in Palo Alto, PAP-PCS began mounting full seasons of musical productions to standing room only audiences at the Fox. To help meet the financial challenges of the future and to ensure that the focus of the company would remain production and not theater restoration, the old Fox building was sold in 1998. In March 2000, Peninsula Center Stage productions ceased in Redwood City enabling the organization to concentrate fully on producing high-quality productions with its venerable Palo Alto Players program.