Call Number:

2003.125

Repository:

Old York Road Historical Society

Extent:

3.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1933-1992 (bulk) and 1933-2001 (inclusive)

Creator:

Wyncote Players.

Abstract:

The Wyncote Players was a local theatre group located in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. The Wyncote Players records, 1933-2001, contain minutes of the group, Treasurer's reports, attendance records, and membership records. There are also a number of programs for events held by the group.

The Wyncote Players was an amateur theater group organized in 1930 at All Hallows Episcopal Church in Wyncote, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Early meetings were held in the home of the group's first president, Roger Haydock. The group's purpose, as stated in 1936, was "to associate the amateur histrionic talent and playwrights of the community for the advancement and production of amateur theatricals and for literary and social intercourse." After World War II, the Wyncote Players expanded, become more inclusive and producing six shows per season. In 1981, the group issued a new mission statement calling for the "maintenance of an organization for the production and staging of amateur plays and similar theatricals of a proper and legitimate nature, the same to include a ‘Workshop’ for the training of amateur actors and actresses, and for the fostering or dissemination of interest in the theatre as an art, a wholesome recreation, an entertainment and an education, and the doing of all acts incidental to the accomplishment of said purposes." Around the same time, the group moved to Abington Friends School and attempted to become a regional theater, but soon it ceased operations.

Bibliography:

Old York Road Historical Society. Images of America: Cheltenham Township. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2001. Accessed February 10, 2015. https://books.google.com/books?id=JtJWadNYHO0C&pg=PA91.

The Wyncote Players records, 1933-2001, contain minutes of the group, Treasurer's reports, attendance records, and membership records. There are also a number of programs for events held by the group.

Many of these files are from one member and one-time Players president, Charles Sohl, and in addition to Wyncote Players records there is material relating to Sohl’s involvement with regional theater groups, especially the Eastern States Theater Association.

The Wyncote Players minutes, 1954-1965, record Treasurer’s reports, attendance reports, and membership status. A frequent topic of concern is the need to get more members and more active members. Other discussions at various times concern establishing benefit performance fees, attempts to purchase Wyncote School and incorporation, 1954-56, negotiations for use of All Hallows Church for performances, and the recommendation to pursue quarters in Alverthorpe Park, 1962. There are also reports of the various committees among which are: Casting, Costumes, Hospitality, Hostess, House, Librarian, Lighting, Make-up, Membership, Play Selection, Production, Properties, Publicity, Scenery, Script, Set Design, Spotlight.

Other records include Treasurer’s reports, 1963-1975, miscellaneous correspondence and papers, 1952-1989, and membership lists.

There are Wyncote Players programs, 1933-1935 (1 volume, including clippings), 1961-1992, and miscellaneous clippings.

Other regional theater records include Eastern States Theater Association (ESTA) minutes and other board materials, 1974-2000, files relating to publication of the newsletter "Stage" for the Eastern Pennsylvania Theater Committee (EPTC), together with copies of "Stage" newsletter, 1985-2000/2001. Miscellaneous programs and other material for other theater groups and associations.

Some files relate to Charles Sohl’s own amateur theater activities and contain information on plays Sohl directed, and research material for a description of theater in Montgomery County Second Hundred Years.

Following is an inventory of the collection:

Box 1 List of plays performed by Wyncote Players, 1930-1970/71 Wyncote Players Minutes, 1954-1965 Wyncote Players Treasurer’s reports, 1963-1975 Wyncote Players miscellaneous correspondence and papers, 1952-1989 Wyncote Players clippings Wyncote Players membership lists Wyncote Players “Media” Montgomery County Second Hundred Years, Theater Chapter (by Sohl) Other theaters programs etc. Eastern States Theater Association (ESTA) minutes and other board materials, 1974-2000 ESTA Festivals, 1976, 1984, 1990

Box 2 Eastern Pennsylvania Theater Committee (EPTC) miscellaneous and Stage newsletter file EPTC "Stage" newsletter, 1985-2000/2001 Theater Association of Pennsylvania (TAP) newsnotes & miscellaneous, 1987 Other theater associations and festivals

Box 3 Wyncote Players programs, 1933-35 (1 volume, with clippings), 1961-1992 (with scattered 1950’s issues)

Box 4 Sohl directed plays files, 1972-1993 Sohl personal miscellany re. clubs and teaching