In July of 1995, five people with a vision of a community theater in Highlands decided to act on that vision and started the Highlands Community Players.
Sara Mayer, Carol Lucas, Jerri Talley, Jean Morris and April Hershey each put in $100 of their own money, sat down and chose three plays – Steel Magnolias, Dearly Departed and A Thurber Carnival – and wrote to get the rights to do them.
They then petitioned the Highlands Chamber of Commerce to let them rent the Conference Center to put on these three plays and set out to get some platforms built to use for a stage.
For the next five years they continued to schedule a fall, winter and spring play with performances on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. The “Readers Theatre” has become a tradition during the Christmas season.
Productions
| 1995-1996 SeasonSteel MagnoliasWacky Christmas Carol
Dearly Departed A Thurber Carnival |
1996-1997 SeasonPlaza SuiteAnnual Christmas Reading
The Dining Room Murder is a Game |
| 1997-1998 SeasonThe ForeignerAnnual Christmas Reading
Odd Couple – Female Version An Inspector Calls |
1998-1999 SeasonBeau JestAnnual Christmas Reading
A Talent for Murder Harvey |
| 1999-2000 SeasonThe Octette Bridge Club Annual Christmas Reading
I Hate Hamlet Lost in Yonkers Spoon River Anthology (Reading) |
2000-2001 SeasonMorning’s at SevenAnnual Christmas Reading
Dirty Work at the Crossroads Light Up the Sky All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Reading) |
| 2001-2002 SeasonBarefoot in the ParkAnnual Christmas Reading
Moon Over Buffalo Our Town Over the River and Through the Woods (Reading) |
2002-2003 SeasonThe Exact Center of the UniverseAnnual Christmas Reading
Blithe Spirit The Cemetery Club Brighton Beach Memoirs (Reading) |
| 2003-2004 SeasonYou Can’t Take It With YouAnnual Christmas Reading
The Importance of Being Earnest Proof The Sunshine Boys |
2004-2005 SeasonSteel MagnoliasStepping Out
The Diary of Anne Frank Dearly Departed |
| 2005-2006 SeasonThe Second Time AroundThe Hollow
I Remember Mama Simon’s Suites (New Directors’ Project) |
2006-2007 SeasonCrimes of the Heart, Caught in the Villain’s WebEnchanted April How the Other Half Loves |
| 2007-2008 SeasonThe Raindrop WaltzLend Me a Tenor
The Last Night of Ballyhoo A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum |