The Players History

The Clifton Park Players (CPP), now known as The Players at the Maureen Stapleton Theatre, is a not-for-profit community theater group, which began its first season in the winter of '94 with the musical melodrama Love Rides the Rails.  We continued with the Neil Simon comedy, Come Blow Your Horn, followed by the musical, Baby.  The initial season concluded with the 50's musical comedy, Bye, Bye, Birdie; the cast exceeded 60 in number and ranged in age from 10 to 65.  This production provided us with our hallmark... A summer musical suited for family entertainment, whose large numbers of cast and crew would be multigenerational... and was performed FREE!   Our success grew - '95 was Barnum; '96, The Music Man; and '97 saw us move into the historic Cohoes Music Hall with Once Upon a Mattress. 

During these formative years we have performed comedies, Barefoot in the Park, Alone Together, You Know I Can't Hear You When The Water's Running, musicals, Nunsense, Give My Regards to Broadway, The Fantasticks, Finian's Rainbow and dramas, Our Town, The Runner Stumbles, and Dial 'M' for Murder.  The 2000-2001 season, our eighth,  began with Grease, with audiences of 400+ in attendance every night at the Cohoes Music Hall.   

In September 2000, we became the resident theatre company at the Maureen Stapleton Theatre on the campus of Hudson Valley Community College.  The current season in July with the musical Wizard of Oz on the Maureen Stapleton stage, and a repeat performance of Your A Good Man, Charlie Brown on the Macdonald Music Haven outdoor stage in Schenectady.  The season continues in the MST this fall with the humorous and touching Steel Magnolias, then to a comedy Beau Jest, and two Neil Simon's in a row, Come Blow Your Horn (reprise), and Jake's Women.  See the 2001-2002 season listings for dates and times for these upcoming shows.