The Legacy of the Potomac Playmakers, 100 years within the Group

Have you seen a play introduced by the Potomac Playmakers of Hagerstown? If so, do you know that 2026 marks the a hundredth anniversary of the Potomac Playmakers?

Live theater has dazzled audiences for millennia, and domestically, the Potomac Playmakers of Hagerstown have taken half on this nice custom. While their historical past has been rocky at instances, the Potomac Playmakers have banded collectively for 100 years, delivering dwell reveals that by no means disappoint.

The Playmakers’ historical past started with a small group of Hagerstown ladies who belonged to the Women’s Club. The Women’s Club, created in 1921, was an area for girls to dwell and categorical themselves socially and creatively. It served, and nonetheless serves, as a basis devoted to empowering ladies in the neighborhood and enriching neighborhood tradition.

In the early Twenties, the Women’s Club created an Activities Committee to entertain friends and members. The Activities Committee initially outsourced leisure, looking for native performers to make use of the stage constructed within the Women’s Club. Early in 1925, the Activities Committee fashioned a “Dramatic Club” to provide a present of their very own.

One of the primary reveals the Dramatic Club carried out was referred to as The Twelve Pound Look, a play concerning the bored and lonely spouse of a profitable Englishman who, with assist from a pal, decides that she needs to turn into extra impartial. Following this, the Dramatic Club branched out and started producing extra of their very own leisure.

Beulah Ferguson, Chairman of the Women’s Club Activities Department, instructed creating an official theater group out of the Dramatic Club. After some deliberation, board member Mary Titcomb motioned to approve this plan, and everybody agreed. Thus, the Potomac Playmakers had been born.

The Potomac Playmakers started as a member-based society, opening up membership to all. Those that joined from outdoors the Women’s Club had been charged $2.50 per 12 months. Members might carry out or assist produce reveals, and joined common conferences held to debate the way forward for the Playmakers.

With a rising member base, the Potomac Playmakers labored to create their first present, referred to as The Boomerang, written by Winchell Smith and directed by Miriam Everts. The three-act play was first carried out on Nov. 11, 1926, starring Thomas Hardinge, Richard G. Smith, Roy Haines, Harry J. White, Catherine Beachley, Rachel M. Sheetz, Mary Brumback, Mary Kneisley, Miriam Everts, Katherine J. Schindel, Marion A. James, George, Camilla, and Anna Okay. Roulette, George Buys, Gerald Philips and Marion Prior. Many of those folks had been belongings to the Playmakers for years to come back.

The Playmakers’ first present was successful, and so they continued to provide 4 seasonal, full-length reveals in the same method even into the Great Depression. Resilient as all the time, the Playmakers weathered the worsening financial system by buying and selling their renovation and growth goals for brand spanking new groups and division heads throughout the group.

They additionally abolished annual membership dues, choosing a “social membership” as an alternative, which has continued ever since. When the financial system bounced again, so did the Playmakers.

Over the subsequent few many years, the Playmakers continued to develop by enhancing the stage and auditorium on the Women’s Club and increasing their presence in the neighborhood. Some of their earliest reveals embody A Mennonite Maid, Billeted, The Show Off, The Whole Towns Talking, and several other one-acts every season.

During the 1958-59 season, their directing model modified. Instead of 1 director for all 4 full-length reveals, a special director was introduced in for every play.

In the 1959-60 season, Bob Peters grew to become the primary male president of the Playmakers, ushering in a brand new wave of concepts. They started new workshop applications and travelling productions, which had been proven at dinner theatres, veteran’s hospitals, faculties, parks, museums, resort eating rooms and courthouses. Also, by the Seventies the variety of performances for every full-length present rose from 5 to 6.

More not too long ago, a 2006 fireplace on the Women’s Club prompted the Playmakers to make a giant determination – to search for an area of their very own. The Playmakers had additionally outgrown the Women’s Club stage.

They moved to a brand new venue constructed out of an outdated warehouse referred to as The Academy Theater and Banquet Center. This transfer was non permanent, and so they moved again to the Women’s Club as soon as extra, discovering themselves in a good state of affairs.

After virtually 90 years, with gross sales down and neighborhood engagement low, the Playmaker’s Board thought-about closing the doorways for good. Circumstances had been grim when a small group of individuals led by Barry Harbaugh garnered sufficient monetary help from some native companies to placed on a number of extra reveals.

This satisfied the Board to maintain the Playmakers operating. Harbaugh later grew to become President of the group.

Several years later, the Playmakers obtained a beneficiant donation from the Agnita M. Stine Schreiber Foundation to assist pay for a brand new theater area within the deserted Cedar Lawn Missionary Church at 17303 W. Washington St., Hagerstown. After some renovations, the brand new church opened its doorways for the 2020-21 season. After 94 years, the Playmakers lastly had their very own area.

Today the Potomac Playmakers are led by a unbelievable crew. President Greg Berezuk and his crew are all the time on the lookout for methods to enhance the dwell theater expertise for everybody. In an interview concerning the historical past of the Playmakers, Berezuk acknowledged, “The biggest blessing is the community.”

The Playmakers’ neighborhood consists of two teams: the viewers and the volunteers. The viewers sustains the Playmakers, whereas the volunteers assist direct, act, design units, handle the stage and extra. In 2026, the Potomac Playmakers hope members of their neighborhood can proceed supporting the second oldest dwell theater in Maryland by seeing a present, becoming a member of them on stage and making long-lasting pals.

Matthew Line is presently a MD 250th Grant Fellow on the Washington County Historical Society. The WCHS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group devoted to preserving Washington County’s historical past; data within the WCHS Archives contributed to this text. For extra info, name (301) 797-8782, or go to www.washcohistory.org.