Crystal Springs Players – History
The History
In 1993 a number of members from the Crystal Springs UMC in San Mateo, with more bright ideas than sense and no experience except for one of us, decided that we wanted to put on plays for the community. Having little idea of the effort, time and commitment necessary to pull off this bold idea we blithely started on our way. With a generous grant from the Peninsula United Methodist Foundation we at least had a secure financial base for our first show. Despite the many mistakes we managed to not only actually put on two short plays, but more importantly became bitten with the theater bug. We were hooked.
Learning that we had a theater major within our midst, we made her director and started correcting our mistakes, of which there were many. We drew more actors into our midst and made a profit with each show we presented.
As the years passed we slowly began to convince the local newspapers that we had something important to add to the arts community. We began to receive favorable reviews for our work. And more people were added to the church family as we brought in actors to fill roles that our small church could not.
We convert our unique sanctuary into an intimate ¾ stage. This makes for excellent theater, but some people are reluctant to enter a church being afraid that we would push religion at them. We are more subtle than that. We quite often pick plays that have something important to say about the human condition; that is, there is an underlining religious theme. Of course some plays have been just for fun.
The Players specialty has been comedy, but we have not neglected dramas and we even ventured into the world of musicals with Godspell and Nunsense. We normally did two full productions per year. We have also done a number of short plays and we do Chancel Dramas in worship. We have taken several acts on the road as well.
Our plays have included: You Can’t Take It With You, I Remember Mama, The Shadow Box, A Piece of My Heart, The Boys Next Door, California Suite, Many Moons, The Solid Gold Cadillac, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Twelve Angry Jurors. Short plays of note were: The Day Christ Came; When God Comes for Breakfast, Don’t Burn the Toast, and Red Carnations.
The Players have been fulfilling their mission to allow people to develop their gifts and talents through drama and to positively affect our audience with quality productions that are: Thought-provoking, Entertaining, and Inspiring.
After 20 years of producing many high quality shows for the community, the Crystal Springs Players have had to cut back on the number of major productions. Our congregation whom we depend on to provide us with actors, backstage people, etc. has changed due to age, moving away, and family obligations. We do however continue to do chancel dramas to enhance our worship services. Many are written by our own people.
We are working to return to producing two full length shows per year for the community. New members, at any skill level who would like to participate either on stage or back stage, are most welcome! You are also welcome to join the Drama Club which supports Crystal Springs Players. Please contact our board president, Steve Schlichter, or call the church office if you might be interested.
Our Mission
To provide our community with the opportunity to discover and develop gifts and talents through drama. It is our purpose to encourage people to take risks and build confidence in Life (work, personal, family, spiritual) by being a group that encourages: spiritual growth, positive role modeling, teamwork, being supportive of one another, fun, commitment, church growth & vitality.
To positively affect our audience with quality productions that are: thought-provoking, entertaining, inspiring.