Nobody Don’t Like Yogi
Comedy by Thomas Lysaght
June 18-29
Red Sox Nation can relax. Yogi Berra may be a New York Yankees legend, but Nobody Don’t Like Yogi - the play about his life - covers more than just the time Berra spent in the dreaded pinstripes. This one man show, performed by Players favorite David Howard (seen last year in Visiting Mr. Green) celebrates its namesake’s humor, loyalty and wisdom as the most quotable athlete of our time as it weaves together a portrait of a player, father, and friend, and demonstrates the importance of trusting your convictions.

Stones In His Pockets
Comedy by Marie Jones
July 2-13
This play premiered in Belfast, Northern Ireland and was a runaway hit in London, where it won Best Comedy awards from The Evening Standard and the Olivier Award Committee. It opened to critical acclaim at the Golden Theatre in New York in 2001 and received three Tony nominations that year. Set in a small village in rural Ireland where a major Hollywood studio is making a mega-hit film, the play centers on two down and out Irishmen, happy to be making 40 pounds a day as extras. In an acting tour de force two actors take on many roles in rapid succession, easily moving from trendy movie moguls to slouching Irish underdogs. Stones moves with lightening quick precision, as two versatile actors portray a whole cast of characters in this humorous yet poignant tale.

“This play has universal appeal...Stones In His Pockets is the most fun you could have in a theatre...” - Dooyoo.co.uk “A comedy on several layers — overtly funny at times, self-reflexive at others, poignant and touching throughout. A must see!” - BBC

Private Lives
Comedy by Noel Coward
July 16-27
A classic comedy of bad manners, dry humor and quicksilver sparring that is both daringly hilarious and elegantly sexy, Private Lives is widely considered Coward’s greatest comedy. The action concerns a divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, both recently remarried, who accidentally book adjoining suites at the same hotel for their honeymoons. The play centers on the two leads and their agonizing realization that they still care for each other, and contains some of Coward’s best dialogue. Private Lives remains above all true to Coward’s lifelong commitment to the theater as a place in which to be entertained.

An Ideal Husband
Comedy by Oscar Wilde
July 30-August 10
Beneath the sparkle of Edwardian London Society lies an undercurrent of deception, instigated by Mrs Cheveley, the infamous scarlet woman. Living in this world is the pure-hearted Lady Chiltern and her ideal husband, a politician beyond reproach … if there is such a being. “Nowadays, with our modern mania for morality, everyone has to pose as a paragon of purity, incorruptibility, and all the other seven deadly virtues.” This show is a dazzling blend of comedy and morality, sex and politics, exploring human frailty and social hypocrisy. Using Oscar Wilde’s signature wit and style, An Ideal Husband has all the sumptuous elegance you expect.

Our Town
Drama by Thornton Wilder
August 13-31
James Whitmore will reprise his role as the Stage Manager in this classic. Written by Thornton Wilder and inspired by his frequent stays in Peterborough as a MacDowell Colonist, the Pulitzer-Prize winning Our Town has become an American stage treasure and is Wilder’s (not to mention the Players’) most renowned and frequently performed play. Set at the turn of the 20th century, the play reveals the ordinary lives of the people in the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, U.S.A. As the Stage Manager, Whitmore narrates Wilder’s immortal tale of love, marriage, death and daily life. A sell-out each time it it is produced by the Players, Our Town is sure to be a hit this year as well.

Doubt: A Parable
A Drama by John Partick Shanley
September 3-14
“Truth tends to make a bad sermon...” says the accused priest in John Patrick Shanley’s achingly taut Doubt. Set in 1964, at a Bronx Catholic School, Doubt tells the story of a strong-minded nun who wrestles with her conscience in the face of concerns about one of the priests. Sister Aloysius reveals her initial doubts about the enigmatic Father Flynn to Sister James, an inexperienced but enthusiastic young nun. As her suspicions grow about his inappropriate behavior with the school’s first black student, a verbal battle of wills begins and she instigates a relentless campaign to remove the priest. Doubt ran for 2 years on Broadway and in 2005 won a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best New Play. John Patrick Shanley also wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Moonstruck.

The Belle of Amherst
A Drama by William Luce
September 17-28
In the Tony Award-Winning The Belle of Amherst William Luce draws heavily on the poems, letters and first hand accounts of Emily Dickinson to sculpt a one-woman play that is an inspiring, poignant and truthful biography of one of America’s greatest literary women. Through scintillating weavings of poetry, letters, dramatic flashbacks and narrative, we are transported to the people and events that shaped her secluded life. Academy Award nominee, Lindsay Crouse, brings this production to Peterborough prior to a New York run.

“[Emily Dickinson’s] private life, thoughts and dreams and her poetic genius have been strikingly and movingly captured by William Luce... a touching and steadily absorbing evening even to those who know so little about the superb poet.” - New York Post.

2008 Second Company Productions
Second Company productions feature members of our Intern and Apprentice Company, and are designed to be enjoyed by children age 4 and up (and we think grown-ups will like them too). Plan to make a day of it by packing a lunch to enjoy on the grounds. Be sure to stick around after the show so the kids can meet the cast on the patio. Second Company productions are not included as part of any subscription.

Hansel and Gretel
A Fairy Tale by Marjorie Sokoloff
10:30am June 27, 28, July 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 18, 19, 23, 25, 26
Who could resist a house made of candy? Hansel and Gretel take a bite (or two) in this reworked fairy tale, but a few fresh surprises are in store for the siblings. In what is now an annual tradition, the Second Company will bring this story to life and help create family memories that you will cherish for a lifetime.

Cindy Reilly
An updated musical story by Gus Kaikkonen and Kraig Swartz with music by Ellen Mandel
Aug. 22, 23, 26, 30 at 2pm, & Aug. 25 at 7pm
In this modern, musical retelling of the beloved story Cinderella, Cindy Reilly is a bespectacled CPA, surrounded by her chic step-sisters, a rockstar "formerly known as Prince Charming," and her evil stepmother, a Leona Helmsley-type hotel mogul. The script and lyrics were written by Players Artistic Director Gus Kaikkonen and acting company member Kraig Swartz, the music was written by Ellen Mandel, and the fun is for the whole family, not just the kids.

The Ascending Stars Project
The Ascending Stars Project is an opportunity for talented high school students to work with professional actors, designers and directors, giving them the experience of a lifetime and challenging them to rise to a new level.

HARVEY
by Mary Chase
directed by Gus Kaikkonen
Featuring Professional Actors Jon L. Egging as Elwood P. Dowd, Kathy Manfre, and James M. O'Connell
Thur. June 5 at 8 pm, Fri. June 6 at 8 pm, Sat. June 7 at 8 pm, and Sun. June 8 at 2 pm
One of the longest running comedies in Broadway history and a smash hit movie starring James Stewart, Harvey has endeared generations of audiences with the relationship of the amiable Elwood P Dowd and his best friend, the 6'1" tall white rabbit which only he can see. Elwood's family is finally driven to committing him into a home for the mentally disturbed, and that's where the fun really starts as Doctor Chumley becomes convinced that he, too can see Harvey and, believing that the rabbit is a spirit of good fortune, attempts to charm him away from Elwood. The madness is catching as everybody soon believes that Harvey is as large as life. A true classic of modern theatre.