About our organization

AT THE LITTLE THEATER OFF SPRING COMMONS
702 MAHONING AVENUE, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO 44502

VICTORIAN PLAYERS WELCOMES YOU!

"Creating art for the love of it"

The Little Theater off Spring Common is like no other theater. We have converted a lovely old church built in the 1890's into a small, intimate theater. We see our audience as family and are eager to meet and chat with members of the audience after the play. We want all to feel that they are an important part of every play that we perform.

How we started—Continued
      Many improvements have been made since the initial move, the most significant of which has been to involve more local talent. Originally Dr. Kelty trained individuals who had never acted before, and these constituted the company, which was run as a closed shop. Advertising too was limited to flyers and newspaper reviews. Now, however, the Vic advertises in more creative ways and also shares actors, properties, and costumes with other theaters. The quality of the performances and the size of the audiences have increased accordingly.
      Dr. Kelty died in November 2003, after opening night of a new play, and she has been sorely missed; without her vision the croup would not exist. Her husband Perc rented the building to the group for $1 a year and at last gave it to them outright.
       The players have continued to prosper with Marillyn Higgins as Managing Director. Nothing reflects this better than their their winning sixteen awards at the 2009/2010 Marquees. That evening was a watershed moment, moving the Vic from Youngstown's best-kept secret to its top award winner.

Read Dr. Kelty's own account of the groups history.

Jean McClure Kelty

Founder: Victorian Players

ATTENTION: DIRECTORS OF COMMUNITY THEATERS: If you are interested in plays for performance: The Victorian Players holds the production rights on the following plays by Jean McClure Kelty.

THE HORSEHAIR SOFA.. When Alex accidentally sets off her tear gas gun and Peter fakes the whole thing with the media, a zany bunch of people invade the house in search of the ghost of Queen Victoria. And thereby hangs the tale. A Comedy-Mystery.

JANE EYRE.. A modern adaptation of the classic novel by Charlotte Bronte. A Drama.

SIX WESTERNERS IN SEARCH OF THE UNFINISHED STATEMENT.. Using the technique of the Japanese Noh drama, five very contemporary westerners, reluctantly on the orders of their director, search out the culture of Japan. Somewhere along the way their attudes, and maybe their lives, are changed.

CHARLES DICKENS AND THE GHOSTS OF LONDONTOWN...

In modern-day London we confront the ghosts of Charles Dickens and his many characters performing sections from the books in which they live, and thereby return to Victorian England—its fog, its hansom cabs, its haunting history. A Drama.

VOICES ON THE WIND: RETURN TO CAMELOT... Here we meet the historical Arthur, Modred, Guinevere, Morganna, Merlin, and Vivien. Here we view, through "doorways in time," a realistic tale of power and political maneuvering in an age not unlike our own. A Drama.

A GAGGLE OF IRISH GHOSTS (sequel to The Horsehair Sofa)... Alex and Peter are up to more fun and games. Alex inherits a castle in Ireland and they go to spend the summer there. They find the castle inhabited by a gaggle of ghosts who live and who visit. Visitors include Brian Boru, Grainne, and assorted other historical figures who decide to have a party. And quite a party it is with stories and Irish music. A Comedy.

THE LAUREL AND THE ROSE... Based upon the life of Charles Stewart Parnell, the uncrowned King of Ireland... A story of love brought into conflict with the demands of political power, posing the eternal question: To what degree must we sacrifice our privacy in order to achieve and maintain public control? A Drama.

Note: All the plays controlled by THE VICTORIAN PLAYERS have been produced and performed by non-professional casts in small theaters, lacking expensive equipment, lighting and scenery. Please contact us for prices on royalties or for futher information.

HOW WE STARTED

       Dr. Jean McClure Kelty, after retiring from Youngstown State University, founded The Victorian Players in 1992. She wanted this new theater to offer fare that other theaters were not providing. With a Ph.D. in Victorian literature, she and two of her former students, Elizabeth Ford and Deborah Mitchell, decided to produce British plays written during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This period, though broad, proved too restrictive, and soon the theater's scope widened to include plays written by playwrights who had lived during Victoria's reign. Finally, it widened still further, to plays reflecting or challenging Victorian values, including the work of Dr. Kelty herself and other local playwrights. Above all, though, Dr. Kelty wanted the theater to be family-friendly, avoiding obscenity, profanity, and the graphic depiction of violence on stage.
       On June 20, 1993, the players mounted their first production, The Drunkard, by William H. Smith. They performed this old-fashioned melodrama on the stage of the old Oakland Treatre on Fifth Avenue. This play was revived twice, once at the Opera House in Cortland and again at the Calvin Center, now the home of the Rustbelt Theater Company. The company remained at the Calvin Center until 1994, when Dr. Kelty purchased a permanent home for them: the Church of St. George just down the street, a real Victorian building, erected in 1890.
       Although lacking wings, fly area, and workshop—and being very cramped backstage—this small space has won the affection of both actors and audiences. The closeness of the actors encourages the audience to participate, sometimes with boos and hisses or cheering—and on rare occasions with pingpong balls aimed at the actors, a recollection of the days in which audiences would smuggle rotten eggs and vegetables into a theater to fling onto the stage.