Photographs, theater programs, scripts, tickets, correspondence, and press clippings connected with The Players, an amateur dramatic club in Newton, 1887-1962. The Players was founded in 1887 after eight Newton residents circulated a printed letter, seeking up to 150 paying members for a new dramatic club. Annual fees were set at $6 for "associate members" and $1 for "active members," with active members expected to join the casts of plays performed. Three plays were to be produced each year, with tickets offered only to paying members. Members were entitled to "three (3) tickets to each performance if given only one evening, or two (2) if given two evenings." The club formed quickly, with three (later two) productions annually. Most performances in the club's early years were given at City Hall in West Newton; a few took place at "Temple Hall" in Newtonville or at "Players Hall" in West Newton. Programs noted that extra train cars would be available at the close of each performance to accommodate people returning to Newtonville or Newton [Corner]. In 1938, The Players made its radio debut with the broadcast of a dramatization of Max Brand's "A Silence in Tappan Creek." The club was then 51 years old and already "one of the oldest dramatic organizations in the United States," according to the Boston Herald. Performances continued in the following decades, with a hiatus during World War II. But the club's 75th anniversary also marked its end. Membership had dwindled, and the 1962-63 season was suspended for lack of funds. The Players never returned to the stage.
