|
I was five years old the first time I stepped into our theatre, and I grew up in our seats watching the magic unfold. Our theatre took me in as an apprentice at fourteen and taught me skills I still use today. Our theatre gave me twelve summers as an actor on its stage, one as a director. My children grew up in our seats, watching the magic unfold. Now I serve on the board. Fifty years of my life have been shaped by what you have built and sustained on Hadley Road. This is what your care and commitment have created: a place that has woven its way through so many of our families—for nearly a century. This is what we build together.
Thank you. Thank you for inviting me in. Thank you for inviting artists from across the globe. Thank you for opening your doors to your neighbors and friends, to strangers who become family. When you support our theatre, you're supporting every local supplier who helps bring the shows to life. Every staff member. Every artist who travels here to create with us. You're building relationships, goodwill, memories. You're making space for the extraordinary act of creative collaboration. Those summer nights—when you proudly bring your out-of-town guests, when you settle into your seat surrounded by dear friends and new explorers—something remarkable happens. Together, we are transported across space and time. Our imaginations open. We laugh, we cry, we gasp, we grapple with what it means to be human. Not alone, but together. The Players is precious. And it is ours. Will you please continue to build our theatre and community with a gift today? Our theatre only exists when you support it and join us in creating nights of unforgettable magic. Your gift today ensures the artistry you love will take your breath away again this summer. It ensures we always have this place to gather, create, explore, and discover together. Thank you for making the Peterborough Players what it is. I look forward to seeing you in the barn, building something extraordinary together. With deep gratitude, Sevanne Kassarjian Board Member
0 Comments
As I look back on our enormously successful summer season, so many wonderful moments come to mind: our door-slamming farce Boeing Boeing kicking off the season with hilarity, audience members lining up to be volunteers onstage in our Spelling Bee, our hard-working apprentices celebrating each other with heartfelt speeches during our Whitmore Awards as we wrapped up the summer.
These highlight so much of what the Players is about - high-quality productions, spreading joy, embracing community, and championing education by passing the torch to the next generation of theatre-makers. All the above costs more than you may think. We need your help, and time is of the essence. National and state funding for the arts is now essentially non-existent, which means it’s more crucial than ever to consider ways to increase your giving to the Players. Your tickets for our shows only account for roughly 30% of what it takes to produce them. Although our attendance was strong this summer, it doesn’t cover our overall costs. For example, some of our expenses tripled in 2025 due to various economic factors, but we chose not to pass that on to our community in ticket prices. If this season was your first time in our beautiful barn, thank you so much for joining us. If you have been coming for years, thank you for your steadfast support and for bringing first-timers as your guests. There is only one way to keep this momentum going and to ensure the future: please strongly consider increasing your donation to our Annual Fund. I'm so excited by the thrilling experiences in store for you in 2026. Now more than ever, your support is necessary to the magic of Peterborough Players. Thank you in advance for taking this impactful moment for your theater seriously and being an essential part of our success. Brendon Fox Artistic Director It’s a lovely summer day here in Peterborough, and I’m thrilled to be writing to you. I’m in the final rehearsal of Boeing Boeing, my 63rd? show at the Players. I know most of you haven’t met me or even heard of me, but you’ve probably seen my work over the years, Scenic Design for Cherry Orchard, Glass Menagerie, Annapurna, Our Town, The Producers, Ben Butler, and so many others.
I’m thrilled to be part of an amazing new team of artists and craftsmen, led by the talented Brendon Fox. Their energy and enthusiasm for the Players are truly inspiring, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Collaboration is a hallmark of theater. It is an art forms that requires a team of artists to work together. The audience may not realize the many artists and craftsmen who make up the team that brings what the audience sees to life. Boeing Boeing has approximately 30 artists, artisans and core company working behind the scenes- it’s all part of the magic. As a Scenic Designer at the Players for 29 years, these collaborations have introduced me to hundreds of amazing artists and craftspeople who have had a profound impact on my work and life. Without the Players, I wouldn’t be the person and artist I am today. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you. The most important collaborator in theater is you the audience. Without an audience, there is no theater. You may not know it, but the tickets you buy only cover 30% of the theater’s operating costs. It’s the generous donors and sponsors like you who make the difference and keep live theater thriving here at the Players. I encourage you to donate whatever you can. No gift is too small - it all adds up. And of course, I’d love for you to come collaborate as an audience member on a show with us. We’re here creating magic in the woods, and I’d be thrilled to have you join us. Thank you, Charles F. Morgan Set Designer and Player since 1996 March 2025
Picture this: it’s an August evening on Hadley Road, late enough that the sun has gone down and no more light gets in through the cracks in the barn doors. The theater is pitch black at the climax of Wait Until Dark, Frederick Knott’s fast-paced thriller. The audience sits in breathless silence. Slowly, we hear the creak of a refrigerator door opening onstage. Light gets in. Just enough to see the villain’s face illuminated before he jumps. The door slams shut. The audience shrieks. And just backstage, an 11-year-old kid in prop glasses is watching, like she does every night, completely and utterly hooked. This is the story I tell, at parties and on panels, when asked what inspired my career in the arts. I grew up at the Peterborough Players—acting, volunteering, running lights, building props, singing in cabarets, performing at fundraising events—and now, 25 years after my child star turn, I am proud to be writing to you today as a member of the Board of Directors. A key part of the Players mission is education; an investment in cultivating and nurturing the next generation of theater professionals. By including emerging artists in every step of the summer season–as staff, apprentices, actors, and technicians–young artists gain a practical understanding of how a theater operates, surrounded by professionals who mentor, teach, and lead by example. I am a direct beneficiary of this educational initiative, and now work as an actor, director, and arts administrator, sharing a love for live performance that was born at the Players. With state and federal funding greatly reduced or eliminated altogether, community support for local arts organizations is more important now than ever before. I cannot overstate what a gift this theater is to the Monadnock region. How lucky are we to have access to high-quality, thoughtful, engaging, moving, brilliant artists and performances year after year? Under Brendon and Tori’s exciting new leadership, we are gearing up for a dynamic summer season that will deliver on this great legacy, with a lineup of plays that celebrate unique characters finding community among themselves. It will be joyful and chilling and thought-provoking–sometimes all at once! What was the moment that you were hooked? What inspired you to become a patron? A subscriber? A donor? When have you told someone about a show you saw, an actor you got to know, or a set design that left you in awe? Perhaps you were even in the audience one of those nights in August 1999 and remember the moment the lights went out and the refrigerator opened. With that in mind, I hope you consider a donation to the Players this spring. Every dollar raised goes to producing this summer’s season and launching our beloved theater into its thrilling next chapter. None of this is possible without you, and we are so grateful for your support, now and always. See you at the theater! Katelyn Manfre I’m delighted and honored to be writing you as the Players’ new Artistic Director. I grew up in New England seeing summer theatre and have spent a significant part of my career directing and producing a wide range of plays and musicals that dovetail beautifully with the Players’ history. I’ve also taught in higher education, so our commitment to younger artists starting off on their artistic journeys is one of the many reasons I believe in what the Peterborough Players do.
I’ve spent the last few months beginning to fulfill a promise I made to the Search Committee: that I would immerse myself in the community. As I meet with you on First Fridays, in your homes, and in passing at our local restaurants, I’m learning that for some of you, supporting this theater goes back generations; others have just discovered the spellbinding work in the barn for the first time. But the common denominator is your deep love and investment in the Players. That investment was rewarded with a wonderful season this summer, helmed by Interim Producing Artistic Director Charles Morey. It was full of deep laughs and poignant moments – I saw nearly the entire lineup and was incredibly impressed by the quality of the performances and the detail of the designs. The great work by our team of actors, designers, directors, stage managers and technicians among others was only possible because of your support. With your generous giving to our Annual Fund, we can expose the community to newer works like Ben Butler alongside powerful classics like Man of La Mancha. As I write this, I’m now turning my attention to our 2025 summer season, even as our theater hosts exciting Arts on Screen events through next spring. Though the exact lineup is still “in draft”, I can say with certainty that my vision includes a powerful menu of stories from some of the greatest playwrights of our past and present. These tales will be produced with care, diligence and joy. And in addition to the professionals who will endeavor passionately to bring them to life, the Players will again invest in early career artists who will live, work, and grow alongside their more experienced colleagues. We are very grateful for the incredible responses we received for our 2024 season. To ride the wave of excitement that this new era is heralding and build on our momentum into 2025, we ask that you consider contributing to our Annual Fund. Though it’s thrilling to see a full house, ticket sales only go about 30% of the way towards our budget. Your support is vital to sustaining the special magic that happens in our beautiful barn every summer. I’m looking forward to meeting those I haven’t yet had the chance to connect with- to warmly welcome you to the Players next summer and express my thanks in person for all you do to help this jewel of a theater thrive. Warmly, Brendon Fox Artistic Director Butterflies were fluttering in my stomach when I arrived at The Players. I was meeting with the legendary Charles Morey to see if I would be a good fit for the Director of Development and Marketing and keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I would be. He gave me a tour and when the doors of the theatre opened, I got goosebumps. The magic in the air is palpable. You can feel the echoes of memories and dreams. The traces of passion and dedication are buzzing around the theatre. It feels vibrant and hopeful.
There is something undeniably special about our theatre. You can see it on the faces of the audience. You can hear it in the voices of our interns. The Peterborough Players means so much to so many. It is resplendent with stories, legends and tales. Everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting has a unique connection to The Players. We have had 91 years of sharing community and telling stories. Everyone calls the theatre theirs. And it is. It belongs to everyone. And everyone who has set foot in theatre has helped to shape it. This summer has been inspiring. All day every day the theatre buzzes with the anticipation of audiences and the energy of artists bringing their very best to our stage and the anticipation of audiences to enjoy We have welcomed record-breaking audiences It is an absolute joy to come to work every day. To be a part of something so meaningful and important. It is exhausting. It is overwhelming. It is supremely rewarding. It fills me with pride to be involved with an organization that is a historic, cultural and economic touchstone in the Monadnock Region. There is nothing better than seeing the barn completely full, which we have had the pleasure of seeing many times this season so far, but even when we are at 100% capacity, our ticket revenue only covers 30% of our budget. You are an invaluable part of our Players team. You love the theatre and you have championed it, which is why I am asking you to look into your heart and remember why this place is so important to you. Please join me in giving a gift today to ensure the Peterborough Players’ tomorrow. Your generosity is irreplaceable to us. Your investment in The Players allows us to continue to dream, to grow and to plan for our future. Your giving grants us the ability to continue to bring you the best of the best. Your donation makes it possible for us to bring our community together under one roof in laughter, in delight and in hope. With much gratitude, Christy Keefe Director of Development and Marketing March, 2024
Dear Peterborough Players Family, “Why do you love the Peterborough Players and what makes it important to you?”--a question I was recently asked at an arts forum. Beyond the beautiful, inspiring art that is presented, it’s the sense of community. When my husband and I moved here 18 years ago it was on a part-time basis and we knew no one. One of the first things we did was to attend the Players. For the two hours that we sat in the audience of total strangers we became part of a community sharing an experience. And that’s what theatre is -- a collaboration between those on stage, those in the audience, and those behind the scenes who create the magical atmosphere. When we laugh at a line, applaud a song, oooh over a striking set or beautiful costume, we energize the artists, and they give that energy back to us. And we all feel a part of something special. When the pandemic hit and the theatre went dark for a year, people got used to staying on the couch in their sweats and streaming Netflix. Since reopening the barn in 2022, our audience numbers have bounced back to 75% of their pre-COVID levels. While we are doing better than other theatres in our region, having many empty seats is not financially sustainable and is disheartening to the artists who work so hard to produce a quality theatre experience. When that strong sense of community is lost, it affects artists’ work, the economic boost to the town, and most of all, personal connections. The Players’ exciting 2024 season will draw us back together with comedy, mystery, romance, history, and a big musical. You may not be on the stage, but you play a valued role in bringing the performance to life– with your laughter, tears, applause – and your monetary support. As I write this, actors and crew are being hired, rights and scripts bought, and technical plans being drawn for the 2024 season. Now we need your help to make it happen. Please join me in donating to the Peterborough Players in support of our stupendous/sensational summer season. Like you, I love this theatre and this community. And I look forward to being with you in the barn, enjoying exceptional art, and learning about what makes the Players important to you. And personally, thanking you for your support. Marie Cassady President of the Board of Trustees P.S. The Players needs you now more than ever. And now, more than ever, I thank you for your generosity. December 2023
Dear Peterborough Players Family, On an early May evening in 1969, a month away from my college graduation, I drove down Hadley Road in a severely battered ’63 VW bug. I sat down for an interview with Sally Stearns Brown, then Managing Director and daughter of our founder Edith Bond Stearns. A few hours later I left with an offer to be part of the 1969 season. I had no idea that moment would have such a profound effect on my life, both professional and personal (I fell in love with my wife 47 years ago in that old barn!) I returned in various capacities every summer over the next twenty-five years, twelve as Artistic Director, then sporadically thereafter. I certainly had absolutely no notion that May evening that fifty-four years later I would return to serve the Players once again as the interim producing artistic director. But here I am! That old barn had all the charm it retains today but none of the advantages. There was neither heat nor air conditioning, the audience sat on 147 uncomfortable folding chairs, the production facilities were primitive to say the least. But it was filled with magic! The sense of family, community and shared commitment to great theatre was palpable to audiences and artists alike. That magic remains and must continue! That’s why I’m back with The Players and why I am writing to you. I’m sure you are all aware that since the on-set of the pandemic, theatres large and small face serious financial challenges. The Peterborough Players is no exception. I won’t focus on that. What I am focused on is creating a 2024 season that is upbeat and positive with known and loved titles - and a big musical! It will be a season filled with laughter, joy, romance, optimism, and inspiration, in the hope that the Players’ community will respond with full houses of enthusiastic and happy theatre goers sharing the 91-year-old magic of the Peterborough Players! That’s the plan. But we need your help. This is YOUR theatre, and we count on you to keep it strong. We literally would not be here without you. The end of the year annual fund appeal is an enormous part of our revenue, so your generosity is crucial to our success. I deeply appreciate all you have done for the Players in the past and ask you now for your generous donation in this holiday season to ensure the future of the Players. With deep appreciation and optimism. Sincerely, Charles Morey Interim Producing Artistic Director A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches
it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image. Joan Didion Spring 2023 Dear Peterborough Players Family, It’s an honor to be writing to you as we celebrate the Peterborough Players’ 90th year. How extraordinary is what Edith Bond Stearns started in the Hadley Barn in 1933?! Though she hardly ever allowed a photo, I can vividly remember my “Aunt Edith’s” smile that could light up a room and she’s sure smiling down on us now! I have no memory of not being a Peterborough Player since my first summer here was when I’d just turned one. My mom, Rosanna Cox entered that magical barn as an apprentice in 1939 only 6 years after Johnny Stearns mucked out the place and built a stage. My first memories were the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd in the barn. Mom was then the leading lady here during her more than 50 years of doing wonderful roles on this stage. As I grew up, I learned so much by watching her and her fellow thespians and feeling that extraordinary love affair, that energy exchange with the audience, that magic. It was so exciting and, chomping at the bit when director Jimmy Welch offered me a juicy child lead at age 8, I was off and running. Like it did for my mom and me, the Peterborough Players experience sparked the imagination and careers of so, so many and that special compact between audience and Players strengthened with the talent it attracted and collective good will year after year. And it still does. Mom loved to describe her early days of discovery and opportunity at the Players. I came of age at The Players and I felt that same magic. When I lunched with James Whitmore in Malibu, he described the same thing, as did William Hurt when I worked with him on Broadway…the same from Robert Morse when Mom and I talked with him backstage after his Tony winning performance in Tru...same from Tom Moore and Chuck Morey and so many others, even those whose entire experience in theater may have been only one summer as an apprentice in the barn. The extended Players family always remark about that magical feeling and their gratitude for it. That’s why so many of us return. We just have to get back to where we once belonged. I married my wife Sarah here and buried my dear mom here last summer. There’s something about this place, something one can’t really define, something uniquely nourishing to the soul, transformational, indelible. Players and audience members have felt that since the 30’s. When James Whitmore mentored me as a young actor, we talked about the rush of creative energy, fellowship, and pure fun we had both felt in different decades at the Players. He smiled and whispered with emotion, “The sap was running.” And the sap is still running. Actors can be guides, shamans. They take you to new places, remind us of truths. Fine theater can open our souls, enhance our beings. An experience in the theater can be life changing. The ritual of coming to a theater, sitting down and being transported by a storyteller is as old as mankind. The Players in Our very special Town is an especially good place for that. It has stood the test of time and evolved into possibly the finest summer theater in the nation and an invaluable cultural resource in winter as well. The consequences of the pandemic have been profound on our theater. Now more than ever as the Players works to rebuild audiences, the theater needs our help to meet the challenges of continuing to produce exceptional, professional theater. Please join me in making a gift today to ensure that this special place survives and thrives for many decades to come. On this special occasion of our 90th year, let's celebrate this amazing theater together with great pride. Here’s to our inimitable, visionary founder EBS and all the Peterborough Players over the past nine decades as we move forward in a new auspicious era with Tom Frey. How lucky we are! Peterborough Players is an extraordinary gift to us all. Much love, Richard Cox Peterborough Player since 1956 We are “As rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold." Shakespeare July 2023
Dear Peterborough Players Family, It is not an overstatement to say that theatres in this country are in a perilous time. It seems like every week I hear of another closure. The 20+ year old Triad Stage in North Carolina, 46-year-old San Diego Repertory Theatre, 56-year-old Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and 33-year-old Book It Theatre in Seattle are among the 30+ regional theatres that have closed in the last 18 months. Why are so many theatres closing, and what can we do to prevent it from happening to our beloved Peterborough Players? Unsurprisingly, a lot stems from the pandemic. Most U.S. theatres are non-profits operating on extremely thin margins in the best of times. The forced closures sent many into financial crises, only partially propped up by federal relief funds. Those resources are gone, and audiences have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, expenses have been skyrocketing. Material costs continue to rise at alarming rates, and the very structure of how theatres operate is evolving. For decades, theatres have often produced at the expense of the people creating the shows, who have routinely been asked to work extremely long, grueling hours for very little or no pay. How can theatre as an institution survive if the very people who create it can’t pay their own bills? The Players have been driving progress in the field, adjusting our production schedules to create a more sustainable model that prioritizes the welfare of our artists, technicians, and staff. We are at the forefront of the industry, demonstrating that it is possible to produce beautiful, engaging, entertaining theatre without exploiting the people who create it. As we celebrate our 90th year, our existence can’t be taken for granted. Our wonderful Artistic Director Tom Frey and I have over 30 years of love and respect for the Peterborough Players and the Monadnock Region between us. We know the importance of our playhouse to the community and the theatre world at large. We are ready to meet the moment and lead the Players into the next 90 years. But those of us at the end of Hadley Road can’t do it without your help. Can you make a tax deductible donation now to help ensure we’re here to serve the Monadnock region for years to come? What would Our Town be without the Peterborough Players? We are integral members of the region and a source of art and community. But with ticket sales covering less than 30% of our expenses, we need your support. To help us continue to grow and evolve, expanding our offerings and season with special one-night events, more programming for children, including our new Players Junior classes, exciting new plays, engaging talkbacks, and so much more. Please don’t delay. We need your support now, before we are in crisis. We all have different means, but as you are deciding how much you will donate, please think about all the theatres that are closing across the country and what that means for those communities: the loss of local business, culture, and art. The shared experience of live theatre is powerful. Help us preserve it. As I am writing this letter, we are getting ready for opening night of our second show, and the energy in the air is absolutely electric. Theatre is the ultimate team sport - we only succeed when we all work together. That’s when the real magic happens! Please join us in our goal to remain on the leading edge of theatres in this country and being a vital part of the Monadnock Region for years to come. Thank you in advance for your consideration and generous contribution at whatever level is right for you. I hope to see you in the Barn on Hadley Road very soon. Best, Allison Deutsch Director of Production |
Appeal ArchiveHere you will find many of the past Appeal Letters from those dear to the Players' hearts! Archives
March 2026
Categories |
RSS Feed