History

     In the fall of 1997, a senior at The Ursuline School in New Rochelle had an idea for a community service project. Driven by her love of the theater, Barbara Smith decided to tackle a theatrical production with a group of friends in order to raise funding for H.O.P.E. Community Services, a local soup kitchen located in New Rochelle. With the help of both Jason Summers, then a senior at Iona Preparatory, and Anthony Casella, then a freshman at Iona College, Smith’s vision was able to take off. The trio organized a cast of fifteen and a crew of ten, all high school students, to perform a collection of unrelated one-act comedies. The newly formed H.O.P.E. Players entitled their first production “Call Us Crazy!” Included in the show were the comedies “The Physician” by John Patrick, “Thanks” by Ken Dashow, and “If Walls Could Talk” and “The Show Must Go On” both by Laurence Klavan. The show was performed for two nights in February of 1998 at St. Gabriel’s Church in New Rochelle. “Call Us Crazy!” was a success, raising $1,000 for the local soup kitchen.

Encouraged by the success of their first production, the three young leaders of the H.O.P.E. Players organized a second show for the summer of 1998. Enlarged to a cast of twenty-five high school and college students, the H.O.P.E. Players performed another two evenings of unrelated one-act comedies in addition to incorporating the music of Stephen Sondheim in the production. This second show was entitled “Comedy Tonight”. The one-act plays that made up the program were “DMV Tyrant” and “The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang, “This is a Test” by Stephen Gregg, and “Bachelor Holiday” by Alan Ball. As for the music, the H.O.P.E. Players used the songs “Comedy Tonight” and “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” and “Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You” from Company, and “Losing My Mind” and “Broadway Baby” from Follies. “Comedy Tonight” was performed for two nights at St. Gabriel’s Church. The production raised over $4,000, the proceeds once again going to H.O.P.E. Community Services of New Rochelle.

The third production for the H.O.P.E. Players went up in the summer of 1999. “Frazzled Females”, as it came to be known, was a revue including four comedies and the music of Broadway that examined the roles of women in society. The show used the plays “The Battle of Bull Run Always Makes Me Cry” by Carole Real, “If Men Played Cards as Women Do” by George Kaufman, “Medea” by Christopher Durang and Wendy Wasserstein, and “The Universal Language” by David Ives. The music encompassed “All That Jazz” from Chicago, “Poison Ivy” from Smokey Joe’s Café, “No More” from The Goodbye Girl, “What I did for Love” from A Chorus Line, and “The All About Females Medley” including songs from such musicals as Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, and Flower Drum Song, to name a few. “Frazzled Females” was performed at Iona Preparatory, entertaining close to four hundred people and raising close to $5,000 for the soup kitchen.

The summer of 2000 marked a brand new beginning for the H.O.P.E. Players. With the help and permission of the Rev. Monsignor Martin Biglin, the H.O.P.E. Players were able to adopt a new home in New Rochelle. With this new venue, the H.O.P.E. Players put together a show of one-acts and songs centered about the theme of relationships. This fourth production, entitled “Relationships and Other Disasters”, had a cast and crew that totaled nearly 40 high school and college students. Included in the program were the plays “Reservations for Two” by Lori Goodman, “Spaghetti Proposal” and “After the Beep” by Seth Kramer, “Labor Pains” by Michele Palermo, and “The Battling Brinkmires” by Daniel Meltzer. The songs in used in “Relationships and Other Disasters” were “Steam Heat” from The Pajama Game, “Good Thing Going” from Merrily We Role Along, “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret, “Two People in Love” and “I Want It All” from Baby, “Always A Bridesmaid” from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and “Anything Goes” from Anything Goes. Continuing with their tradition of successful performances, that August the H.O.P.E. Players went on to raise over $6,000 for H.O.P.E. Community Services.

The following summer, August of 2001, the H.O.P.E. Players launched its fifth production to date. “That’s Showbiz” was a comedic cavalcade of one-act plays, songs and dance numbers, all capturing the many aspects of show business. Complete with the same directors and an even larger cast and crew than the previous summer, the H.O.P.E. Players put together an outstanding line-up of plays and songs. The plays used were “Opening Night” by Sam Bobrick, “Little Miss Fresno” by Mary Gallagher and Ara Watson, “Pitching to the Star” by Donald Marguiles, and “Take Five” by Westley M. Peterson. The songs included in the program were “Another Op’nin’, Another Show” from Kiss Me, Kate, “My Husband Makes Movies” from Nine, “Be a Performer” from Little Me, “Every Movie’s a Circus” and “Boy Meets Girl” from Sunset Boulevard, “Drop That Name” from Bells Are Ringing, “Vogue” by Madonna, “Cabaret” from Cabaret, and “There’s No Business Like Show Business” from Annie Get Your Gun. Like all of their previous shows, the H.O.P.E. Players’ production of “That’s Showbiz” proved to be a hit, raising over $10,000 for their community.

August of 2002, the H.O.P.E. Players’ fourth year in action, saw their sixth production entitled “Me, Myself and I”, a play about isolation, independence, and individuality. In addition to the traditional one-act plays and the music of Broadway format, this year the program also included two monologue series in order to further underline the individuality theme of the show. In the program were the plays “Game Theory” by Peter Sagal, “ID” by Kyle Wood, and “Who am I This Time?” by Christopher Sergel. The music of the show included “Independent” from Bells are Ringing, “Someone Else’s Story” from Chess, “Mr. Cellophane” from Chicago, “My Strongest Suit” from Aida, “The Grass is Always Greener” from Woman of the Year, “I Got Rhythm” from Crazy For You, a Pop Music Medley consisting of the following songs: “The Way You Make Me Feel” as performed by Michael Jackson, “I’m a Believer” as performed by The Monkees, “I Got You, Babe” as performed by Sonny and Cher, “Funky Cold Medina” as performed by Ton Loc, “I Will Survive” as performed by Gloria Gaynor, and “I’m Too Sexy” as performed by Right Said Fred. The many monologues of the show were “The Eros Trilogy” by Nicky Silver, “Office Hours” by Norm Foster, “101 Humiliating Stories” by Lisa Kron, “Seven Dates with Seven Writers” by Paula Kamen, “The Face of God” by Justin Warner, “Marcus is Walking” by Joan Ackerman, “Narcissus and Echo” by Jeff Goode, “F.O.B. to U-Haul: New York Lessons” by Steven Tenenbaum, “Spellcheck” by Caroline Rosenstone, and “Dating for Dummies” by Elizabeth Ruiz. With a cast, crew and staff amounting to over 50 people, the H.O.P.E. Players raised $8,000 for H.O.P.E. Community Services.

The year 2003 marked dramatic changes for this local theatre group. In November of 2003, long-time H.O.P.E. directors and crewmembers founded the Hope for Change Foundation, an association that supports theatrical programming as a means of education and offering aid to organizations that are dedicated to the research of breast cancer. Because of the adoption of this new cause, what was once the H.O.P.E. Players turned into The Hope Players, which is a summer theatre group that works in conjunction with The Hope for Change Foundation. Leading the Foundation as President is Anthony Casella along with a board of directors: Lynn Fusco serves as the Vice President of Musical Affairs, Robert G. Hoffman, Jr. serves as the Vice President of Technical Affairs, Jason Summers serves as the Vice President of Artistic Affairs, and Joseph S. Hadala serves as the Treasurer/Secretary.

Although the first show for The Hope Players, the summer of 2003 marked the seventh summer show for the group. Sticking to their classic musical revue theme, The Hope Players put on a show entitled “The Places You’ll Go: Comedy and Music That’ll Take You Away”. A show all about travel, “The Places You’ll Go” included the following one-acts: “Here We Are” by Dorothy Parker, “On Hold as 30,000 Feet” by Kitty Burns, “The Road to Ruin” by Richard Dresser and “Visitors from Chicago” by Neil Simon. The musical numbers were: “”Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know” by Lesley Davison, “Please, Mr. Trailways, Take Me Away” by Santa Maria, “Lonely Town” by Bernstein, Comden and Green, Movin’ Up and Out: A Dance -Theatre Piece conceived by Jason Summers and Lynn Fusco using the music of Billy Joel and Elton John, “The Cross Country Tour” from Pete ‘n’ Keely (arr. Patrick Brady) and “42nd Street” by Warren and Dubin

The eighth summer show for The Hope Players was titled “Singin’, Swingin’, Rockin’ and Rollin’”: Comedy and Music from the 50’s & 60’s. One-acts included: “Mama Loves Mambo” adapted from the television series The Honeymooners, “Laugh-In” adapted from the television series Rowan and Martin and “Cinderella Wore Combat Boots” by Jerry Chase. Musical numbers included: “Baby, That is Rock and Roll” by Leiber and Stoller, “Bebop and Doowop” A Girl Group Medley, “We Go Together” from Grease, “Welcome to the 60’s” from Hairspray, “A Little Less Conversation” as performed by Elvis and “Buona Sera” as performed by Louis Prima.

“Cinemagic!”, a musical revue celebrating the movies, was the title of The Hope Player’s ninth summer production. One-acts included: “And the Winner Is” by David Matthew-Barnes and “The Disappearance of the Three Little Pigs (A Nursery Rhyme Film Noir)”, by Billy St. John. In addition, scenes from the movies The Princess Bride, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Steel Magnolias were used. Musical numbers included: “Hooray for Hollywood” by Whiting and Mercer, “Just Go To The Movies” by Jerry Herman, “Hail Holy Queen” as performed in Sister Act, “Stayin’ Alive” as performed in Saturday Night Fever, “All That Jazz” as performed in Chicago, “Old Time Rock and Roll” as performed in Risky Business, “America” as performed in West Side Story, “The Sound of Music” as performed in The Sound of Music, “You’re the One That I Want” as performed in Grease, “Over the Rainbow” as performed in The Wizard of Oz, “Twist and Shout” as performed in way too many movies too name (Medley/Russell), “Fame” as performed in Fame, “Sparkling Diamonds” as performed in Moulin Rouge, “John Williams’ Blockbusters” music by John Williams and “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” as performed in Dirty Dancing.

The Hope Players presented “Our Seventies Show”, a musical revue all about the music and styles of the 70’s, in 2006, marking the 10th summer production for the group. The collection of one-acts included: “Communication Problems” (an episode of the television show Fawlty Towers) by John Cleese and Connie Booth, “The Daring Game, by James Pergola (an original member of the group) and “The Not-So-Ugly Duckling” (an episode of the television show The Brady Bunch) by Paul West. The musical numbers were made up of the following: a medley entitled “Disco Fever” (“Boogie Fever” as performed by the Sylvers, “Boogie Wonderland” as performed by Earth, Wind and Fire, “Funkytown” as performed by Lipps, Inc., “I Will Survive” as performed by Gloria Gaynor, “You Should Be Dancing” as performed by The Bee Gees and “Y.M.C.A” as performed by The Village People), “One” by Hamlisch and Kleban, “Pinball Wizard” by Pete Townshend, “Copacabana” as performed by Barry Mannilow, “Rock And Roll All Nite” as performed by KISS, “Applause” by Strouse and Adams and our Peace Medley (“I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” as performed by The New Seekers, “United We Stand” as performed by Brotherhood of Man and “Give Peace a Chance” as performed by Louis Armstrong) arranged by musical director George Croom.