Rochester Community Players

The Rochester Community Players (RCP), the oldest community theatre in New York State,cite web |url= http://visitrochester.com/static/index.cfm?contentID=16 |title= Fun Facts from Rochester, NY: Actors & Actresses |author= Greater Rochester Visitors Association, Inc ] is a local professional theatre group in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, in the United States.

Incorporated in 1923,cite web |url= http://www.rochestercommunityplayers.org/7101.html |title= 83 years; 620 productions |author= Rochester Community Players History |quote= Sources: For extensive newspaper articles about RCP, see the Rochester Times Union June 7, 1960; Rochester Democrat & Chronicle January 3, 1965; Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, page 1H, Feb. 10, 1974; Bound volumes of all RCP playbills from 1925 to 1972 are in storage at the Local History Department of the Rochester Public Library. ] its first production, "Wedding Bells," by playwright Salisbury Fields, [Salisbury Fields' ibdb title|id=6721|title=Wedding Bells.] opened January 19 1925 at the German House on Rochester's Gregory Street. [http://www.thegermanhouse.com/history.html The German House, History page.] ]

The RCP Playhouse

Most of RCP's earliest productions were staged at the German House on Gregory Street, although one was staged at Rochester's old Lyceum Theater, built in 1903. In 1926, RCP purchased the Playhouse, located at 820 South Clinton Avenue in Rochester. The Playhouse was built as a church, but had been used as a machine shop for the eight years prior to RCP's purchase. The first RCP production at the Playhouse was "Captain Applejack" by Walter Hackett, opening November 1 1926. The last RCP production at the Playhouse before it was sold in 1984 was "Spoon River Anthology", by Edgar Lee Masters, which opened May 11 1984. RCP staged approximately 500 productions at the Playhouse.

Background

Early years

For its first fifty years, RCP was considered the premiere theater in Rochester. Early productions were not often dramatically challenging. One reviewer, David L. George, theater critic for the Democrat and Chronicle from 1911 to 1956, described the 1931 production of "Old Lady 31" by Rachel Crothers as "a type of play which is seldom written now, when novelty and frank treatment of sex themes are demanded by the paying patrons. It is as wholesome as an old fashion, home made apple dumpling and as sweet as some of grandmother's best jam." Another reviewer, Amy H. Croughton, described the same play as "an out-moded, lavender and old lace sort of thing heavily loaded with sentimentality and deriving its comedy chiefly from charicture and exaggeration."

Theater quality appears to have risen after World War II. Perhaps RCP's strongest season was 1958-59, when RCP produced "Guys and Dolls"; "Inherit the Wind"; "Visit to a Small Planet" by Gore Vidal; "Blithe Spirit" featuring Foster Brooks; and "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare. 12 year old Mimi Kennedy appeared in "The Spider Web", by Agatha Christie, in October 1960.

1970s on

By the early 1970s RCP receded as other community theater organizations in Rochester were producing strong works and attracting significant audiences. A regional equity professional theater, Geva Theatre Center was founded in 1972, and over a period of years the prominent community members who would have been members of the RCP Board in an earlier era were drawn to Geva instead. The Playhouse itself deteriorated over time and was abandoned as a performance space from 1976 to 1980. RCP staged its productions at the Holiday Inn Downtown from 1985 to 1992 (the hotel is known, as of 2006, as the Clarion Hotel, and is located at 120 East Main Street, Rochester.) RCP has operated out of various temporary venues since then. Through the summer of 2006 RCP has produced 617 full theatrical productions and has operated continuously for 82 seasons. RCP claims to be the second oldest continuously operating community theater in the United States, but the organization is unaware of any entity which has systematically collected such information so the claim cannot be verified.

Managing directors

In 1926, RCP hired its own full-time professional director and manager, Robert Stevens of New York City. RCP was said to be the first community theater in the United States to hire a full time director.Fact|date=September 2007 He was "engaged" for three weeks and stayed for twenty eight years, operating RCP until his retirement in 1953. He was assisted for many years by scenic designer Milton Robinson, who retired in 1951. Stevens was succeeded by George Warren and Harriet Warren. For nearly twenty years, starting with the 1953-54 season, Mr. Warren acted as RCP's business manager and Mrs. Warren as the artistic director. They were assisted by Betsy Hall, who worked as scenic designer from 1953 to 1976. The Warrens came to Rochester in 1953 after 17 years of developing community theater in Jamestown, New York. Their goal was to transform the socially elite image of RCP and hoped RCP would go professional, as had Buffalo's Studio Arena Theater,Fact|date=September 2007 which had started as a community theater in 1927 and converted into a professional theater in 1965. However, RCP remained a community theater during the Warren years. George Warren died March 11, 1972 and Hattie Warren retired the next year. Various full-time and part-time managers operated the theater over the next twenty five years. RCP has been managed entirely by volunteers since 1998.

Acting companies

hakespeare Players

In 1994, RCP established the Shakespeare Players, [ [http://www.rochestercommunityplayers.org/12132.html RCP's Shakespeare Players.] ] a free Shakespeare program. Since 1997, RCP's Shakespeare Players have performed an annual free Shakespeare in the Park production of one of William Shakespeare's plays in early July at the Highland Park Bowl. In 2007 they performed "Romeo and Juliet". The Shakespeare at the Bowl production is co-sponsored by the Monroe County, New York Parks Department.

Irish Players

In 1997 RCP established The Irish Players of Rochester, [ [http://www.rochestercommunityplayers.org/12101.html RCP's Irish Players.] ] a program that produces Irish theatre. The Irish Players are a member of the "Acting Irish International Theater Festival."

References

External links

* Highland Park Bowl (home of RCP's Shakespeare at the Bowl): [http://www.monroecounty.gov/parks-highland.php]
* Picture of the old Lyceum Theater: [http://www.vintageviews.org/vv-tl/Photos/pages/Lyceum_Theatre.html]