Gallery Players to Celebrate 60th Season This Fall

Gallery Players, the oldest community theater group in central Ohio, will celebrate its 60th season this fall at the JCC. Co-chairs of the celebration are Pam Scheer and Rena Vesler.

"Right now, we are sifting through boxes of photographs and slides taken throughout the years of the various productions in order to get them organized into a keepsake program and also display them during the celebration," said Scheer. "The trouble is that we're having difficulty identifying everyone in the photos."

Vesler added that they also are looking for additional copies of photos. "We don't always have all of the photos taken during a certain production, so we're looking for more," she said.

If interested in assisting with the project, contact Scheer at (614) 231-3401 or Vesler at Rena@columbus.rr.com.

A Brief History of Gallery Players

In the late 1940s, Jews and African Americans were not permitted to participate in Columbus community theater - the foremost of which was the Players Club Theater. In 1948, a group of Hadassah women who were interested in theater met at the home of Florence Zacks Melton to organize a theater activity in which members of the Jewish community could comfortably take part.

Melton offered the loft space of her R.G. Barry Corporation factory at 80 1/2 E. Long St., to the fledgling drama group. It was within this top floor space that Gallery Players produced their first production in May 1948, which was met with great interest by the Jewish community.

At the time, a new Jewish Center was under construction, and the program department offered its multi-purpose room as a site for the group to stage its future productions, which then became a popular activity at the center. Realizing that in order to present plays at their highest level and have audiences accept the playwright's intention, the group reached out to the community-at-large for additional talented individuals.

Thus, Gallery Players became the first community theater in central Ohio to implement a casting policy that did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or gender. Today, the group continues this inclusive tradition in order to ensure that the Gallery Players stay strong for another 60 seasons.

For more information, visit the Gallery Players website or call (614) 559-6248.