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Plays and Players Theatre

Coordinates: 39°56′49″N 75°10′14″W / 39.94694°N 75.17056°W / 39.94694; -75.17056
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Plays and Players Theatre
Plays and Players Theatre in March 2024
Map
Address1714 Delancey St.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
TypeRegional theatre
Capacitytheatre: 290
black box: 65
Opened1913
Website
www.playsandplayers.org
Plays and Players
Plays and Players Theatre is located in Philadelphia
Plays and Players Theatre
Plays and Players Theatre is located in Pennsylvania
Plays and Players Theatre
Plays and Players Theatre is located in the United States
Plays and Players Theatre
Coordinates39°56′49″N 75°10′14″W / 39.94694°N 75.17056°W / 39.94694; -75.17056
Built1911
ArchitectAmos W. Barnes
NRHP reference No.73001665[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 14, 1973

Plays and Players Theatre is a theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1911, it is one of the oldest professional theater companies in the United States. The theater building was designed and constructed in 1912 by Philadelphia architect Amos W. Barnes as a dramatic school, but soon was used as a theater for Broadway theatre try-outs, known as the Playhouse.

The theater company Plays and Players bought the building in 1922 and has performed there ever since. Murals were added in 1923 by American artist Edith Emerson.[2]

History

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Plays & Players began in 1911 as a social club devoted to expanding and developing new theater experiences for and by its membership. The first President, Maud Durbin Skinner, was the wife of famed American actor Otis Skinner. The Plays & Players Theatre, then called the "Little Theatre of Philadelphia," first opened its doors two years later, in 1913. The theater was founded by Beulah E. Jay and her husband Edward G. Jay, Jr. with acquaintance F.H. Shelton in an effort to produce "American plays of ideas," an underrepresented genre at the time.

Plays & Players theater company has produced notable performances, including the world premiere of the acclaimed Broadway play "Stalag 17" in 1949, and a childhood performance by actor Kevin Bacon in Member of the Wedding in 1974. The first season of Plays & Players included An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde and The Learned Ladies by Molière, both which remain popular plays.

On March 14, 1973, Plays & Players Theatre was entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

References

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  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Joseph P. Barker, Jr., NRHP Nomination Form, 1972, available at CRGIS, key H001447
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