We’re even older than we thought

Players of Utica has long promoted itself as the oldest continually producing community theatre in New York State. As far as we know, we still hold that title, but our origins go back even further than we thought! For many years, the furthest we could trace our beginnings was to 1913. On September 17 of this year, however, we received an email from Zoe Hicks, a volunteer with the Oneida County Historical Center.

“In the course of cataloging and filing a box of old programs,” wrote Zoe, “I discovered one that you might find historically interesting.” Indeed we did! The program was dated January 17, 1907! This pushes back our known beginnings another six years!

At that time, the small theatre group was called The Amusement Club, a name it kept until 1914. In 1914, they changed their name to The Players Club or simply The Players, and it wasn’t until 1960 that we adopted the name of The Players of Utica. At the beginning of our 1978-1979 season, we dropped the “The” and became what we are currently known as: Players of Utica.

   The January 1907 program consisted of two presentations, “Hiawatha’s Wooing” and “Miss Matilda’s School.” Julia H. Cummins, The Amusement Club’s second president, described the latter playlet as “an excuse for singing popular songs in juvenile dress. There was a Floradora Sextet of older men and a chorus of pretty debutantes who were advised (because they couldn’t sing) to move their lips silently while the more matronly ladies in the wings attempted to swell the volume of song.“

   Players is not only the state’s oldest community theatre, we are also one of the oldest in the United States. A ranking by the American Association of Community Theatre, of which we are a member, places us as the fourth oldest in the country. This new revelation about our earlier beginnings does not change that rank.

   We are thankful to Zoe and the Oneida County Historical Center for this enlightening news and update to our impressive history.