Curtain-up for local theater troupe’s 79th season

by Maddy Holman

The motto of the Hudson Players, “Good Friends, Good Shows, Good Times,” holds true for another year as the theater group begins its 79th season. Since 1945, the Hudson Players have been entertaining the community with performances ranging from musicals to Shakespearean dramas to virtual entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

This year, the group takes the stage for “The Savannah Sipping Society,” “Curtains” and “Pump Boys and Dinettes.” Hudson Players President Gary Maher said that the coming season boasts an “exciting variety of shows that provide multiple different experiences.”

“The Savannah Sipping Society” is a “laugh-a-minute comedy” about four unique Southern women, all needing to escape the sameness of their day-to-day routines, who are drawn together by fate – an impromptu happy hour – and decide it’s high time to reclaim the enthusiasm for life they’ve lost through the years. Maher said that the comedy will teach the audience to “reclaim enthusiasm for life.”

It opens Friday, Nov. 3, and runs weekends through Saturday, Nov. 18, with a Sunday matinee planned for Nov. 12. 

The troupe take the stage again in February for “Curtains,” which Maher describes as a hilarious musical journey for both performers and the audience. When the leading lady mysteriously dies on stage, the entire cast and crew are suspects, and the detective assigned to the case just happens to be a musical theater fan. The show is packed with fun tunes and witty, charming characters.

Weekend performances of “Curtains” take place from Friday, February 2, to Saturday, Feb. 24, with the Sunday, February 18 matinee.

The final show of the season, “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” is musical that tells the story a group of gas station attendants and diner waitresses celebrating home cooking and good times. It runs weekends from Friday, April 26, to Saturday, May 18, with a Sunday, May 5, matinee.

In their 79th season, the group is looking forward to bringing in as many new audience members and volunteers as they can.

“To us, it’s all about bringing the arts to as many people as we can,” Maher said, emphasizing that no matter what volunteers like to do, from painting sets to lighting the stage, there is a place for everyone with the Hudson Players.

Tickets and information on how to get involved can be found online at hudsonplayers.com. The information telephone line is 330-655-8522. To make an online donation to the Hudson Players Endowment Fund, go to myhcf.org/hudson-players-endowment-fund.

Performances take place at Barlow Community Center, 41 S. Oviatt St. General admission for all shows is $18 with a student and senior price of $12 and a season ticket option for $36.  ∞