Players Club of Swarthmore – Swarthmore, PA

Attention All Directors! The Players Club of Swarthmore is looking for directors for the 2021-2022 Season! All directors who apply will be considered for our Main Stage, 2nd Stage, and Children’s Theater series. There are no directing restrictions to apply. We are looking for all types of shows and can’t wait to get back on the stage again (hopefully later this year).
 
As a reminder, The Players Club of Swarthmore is an all volunteer organization and all directing positions are unpaid.
 
The Deadline to submit your application is January 31, 2021.
 
Application to apply can be found here.
 
If you have any questions, please reach out to the Artistic Producing Director, Brian Walsh.

 
Available on PCS YouTube Channel Starting Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Length of show – Approx. 30 minutes
Cost – Free
 
The year 2020 can’t end soon enough, but before we move on to 2021, how about travelling back to a more simpler time for some Holiday fun? How far back? Let’s set the Delorean to Christmas Eve, 1950. That’s when the original radio Broadcast of Our Miss Brooks was heard across the country on CBS-affiliated stations. The original show, starring Eve Arden, eventually became a popular television series, but 70 years ago this Christmas, it was still just one of the radio programs that families listened to while huddled around their Philco Console Radio, drinking Ovaltine.
 
The Players Club of Swarthmore, under the direction of Anthony SanFilippo, is bringing this vintage comedy back to life for audiences to enjoy while staying safe at home this holiday season.
 
This episode of Our Miss Brooks is titled “The Magic Christmas Tree.” In it, Madison High School English Teacher Miss Connie Brooks (Emily-Grace Murray) finds herself home alone on Christmas Eve as her colleague, and love interest, Mr. Philip Boynton (John Casertano), is going out of town to visit his parents for the holiday. However, a small urchin (Jeff Martin) knocks on her door to try to sell her a Christmas Tree, and in an effort to complete the sale, convinces Miss Brooks that the tree is magic. Skeptical, Miss Brooks buys the little tree anyway and puts it in her living room. And, when unexpected guests arrive at her apartment, the magic of the holiday season comes to life with hilarious results.
 
If you like this production and want to see (or hear) more offerings like it, or just want to support the Players Club during this unusual time for performing arts venues, Tax deductible donations are greatly appreciated and can be accepted here!
 

Full Cast (In order of appearance):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The finalists of Players Club of Swarthmore’s New Play Festival, originally scheduled for this summer, will be presented this fall and winter online. Each month, we will present a brand new play with the playwright in attendance for discussion after the reading. All readings are FREE.
 

Dear Friends,
 
We hope that this summer you are finding some solace and a respite from the havoc that 2020 has wrought on all of us. Here at the Players Club of Swarthmore (PCS) we are trying to do the same.
 
Alas, it looks like 2020 is going to get the best of us, but that doesn’t mean that in the end, we aren’t going to emerge as a better community – because that’s the plan.
 
It starts with a little bit of bad news, but we believe that a lot of good will emerge from it.
 
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, PCS will remain completely closed through the remainder of 2020. Indoor activities have not become fully safe from the coronavirus yet, and until they do, we do not want to put our patrons, our performers or our staff at risk.
 
However, we believe that we can survive a 10-month shutdown and emerge from it in 2021 as a better, more diverse organization than we were prior to the pause.
 
We do have plans in place to feature a three-show mini-season on the Main Stage starting in late January, 2021 and running through the Spring, featuring two shows that were affected by our closure – Detroit and Anything Goes – and a third production to be announced.
 
But more importantly, this time away from concentrating on our art, is affording us the opportunity to concentrate on ourselves, and how we can be a better, more diverse, safe, and structured community.
 
We have recently created a committee tasked with improving access to our space to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and are finding ways to not only tell their stories on stage, but to include them in leadership positions and have them help shape our path forward so that we can emerge from our implicitly biased bubble and be more representative of the community in which we live.
 
We’ve also created a committee tasked with modifying and enhancing our safety protocols in the areas of harassment and the prevention of abuse and assault, especially for minors and the more vulnerable members of our community.
 
And we’ve also come to the realization that our guiding operating documents and our mission statement need to be modernized and are beginning to undertake the process of working with our membership to update them to create better protocols for the daily operation of PCS moving forward.
 
So, as the sign on the front of our building says, we are at intermission, but you can be certain that what is taking place backstage will allow for a series of wonderful experiences for everyone who walks through our doors once the curtain rises again.
 
In the interim, stay tuned to our social media channels for continued updates and virtual opportunities to engage with PCS and look for more announcements where you can help support our theatre through your generous donations, keeping us sustainable until we can once again have a full season of entertainment for you.
 
Be well and stay safe.
 

 
Anthony SanFilippo
President, PCS Board of Governors

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman
Directed by: Anthony SanFilippo