AUBURN - A local theater company is celebrating an unusual banner birthday. The Auburn Players Community Theater turned 47 this year, and it is throwing a big bash this weekend to celebrate.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Young members of the Auburn Players rehearse “47 Years” at Willard Chapel.
Young members of the Auburn Players rehearse “47 Years” at Willard Chapel.
On Friday and Saturday, the Auburn Players will perform “A Musical Review - 47 Years of the Auburn Players.” The show will look back at the many musical numbers performed by Players over the years, from “H.M.S. Pinafore” and “The Sound of Music,” to “South Pacific” and “Oliver Twist.”
The event will also honor Auburn Players founder Sam Kennedy III, who put an add in The Citizen Advertiser newspaper in 1961 in hopes of starting a home theater.
Why celebrate the organization's history at 47 years? Well, according to Elisa Hunt, why not?
“We've been here all these years and we have never have done a celebration like this,” said Hunt, who is the Auburn Players#' youth theater director and is a past board member.
Hunt, who lives in Auburn, also has been involved in Players productions since she was a teenager.
“I think the Players has been a creative outlet for people all around central New York,” Hunt said. “It is also a place to learn. We have had many people go on to work in theater professionally.”
Hunt said the upcoming show will demonstrate why the Auburn Players are known all over the state - because they produce professional quality theater in a community atmosphere. “A Musical Review” will also feature renditions of some very memorable songs, she said.
“It will be a mix of some past cast favorites and some audience favorites,” Hunt said. “They are doing ‘Hello, Dolly!' Even people who don't go to the theater know ‘Hello, Dolly!' ”
Musical Director Grace Lentini said she brought back some of the shows' original cast members to perform on the more than 20 songs featured in the review. She has been directing and acting in Auburn Players productions since 1993.
“I figured it would be kind of fun to put everything together again,” Lentini said. “We're going to have to do another one of these to get songs from all the shows.”
Don Whitman is directing the play and has worked on plays for the group for “a long time.” He said that bringing all these people together to honor the Auburn Players and Sam Kennedy, who is still a board member, has given the production a nostalgic feel.
“The quality of the voices is really good, too,” Whitman said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
If you go
What: The Auburn Players Community Theater presents “47 Years - A Musical Celebration”
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1
Where: Willard Chapel, 17 Nelson St. Auburn
Cost: $12 general admission, $10 seniors or students, $7 children ages seven and under
The event will also honor Auburn Players founder Sam Kennedy III, who put an add in The Citizen Advertiser newspaper in 1961 in hopes of starting a home theater.
Why celebrate the organization's history at 47 years? Well, according to Elisa Hunt, why not?
“We've been here all these years and we have never have done a celebration like this,” said Hunt, who is the Auburn Players#' youth theater director and is a past board member.
Hunt, who lives in Auburn, also has been involved in Players productions since she was a teenager.
“I think the Players has been a creative outlet for people all around central New York,” Hunt said. “It is also a place to learn. We have had many people go on to work in theater professionally.”
Hunt said the upcoming show will demonstrate why the Auburn Players are known all over the state - because they produce professional quality theater in a community atmosphere. “A Musical Review” will also feature renditions of some very memorable songs, she said.
“It will be a mix of some past cast favorites and some audience favorites,” Hunt said. “They are doing ‘Hello, Dolly!' Even people who don't go to the theater know ‘Hello, Dolly!' ”
Musical Director Grace Lentini said she brought back some of the shows' original cast members to perform on the more than 20 songs featured in the review. She has been directing and acting in Auburn Players productions since 1993.
“I figured it would be kind of fun to put everything together again,” Lentini said. “We're going to have to do another one of these to get songs from all the shows.”
Don Whitman is directing the play and has worked on plays for the group for “a long time.” He said that bringing all these people together to honor the Auburn Players and Sam Kennedy, who is still a board member, has given the production a nostalgic feel.
“The quality of the voices is really good, too,” Whitman said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
If you go
What: The Auburn Players Community Theater presents “47 Years - A Musical Celebration”
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1
Where: Willard Chapel, 17 Nelson St. Auburn
Cost: $12 general admission, $10 seniors or students, $7 children ages seven and under
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