T HE
D EPTFORD
P LAYERS

Devoted to the living art of theatre.
Dedicated to producing important works of world theatre
and encouraging new playwrights through readings and full productions.

Deptford Players on Hiatus

Following our 2005 production of Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Deptford Players have decided to take a hiatus from our regular productions and readings. We are still occassionally taking part in or producing special event readings and the like.

Updated December 2006


2005 Wrap-up

It's a little early, only October, for a 2005 wrap-up, but what the heck!

In April we had a successful production of Two Gentlemen of Verona followed by a three play Reading Series in May.

This means that in just over five years we brought you well over twenty new play readings, and twelve main stage productions - two of them, The Trials of Martin Guerre and Castro's Beard, Off-Broadway. Not a bad record.

With that as a foundation, we have decided to take some time off from mainstage productions to review and revise our goals and the means we can use to achieve those goals.

We'll be keeping our hands in with readings and occasional special events while we look at options for the future. For now, we want to thank all of you have come to our shows and readings, supported us with donations of time and money, and/or helped out in the thousands of way that a small Not-For-Profit Theatre company needs. It's been a wonderful five years and you are what made it possible.

As for the next five years ... who knows what that will bring!

Jeff Berry for the Deptford Players


Contribute now to the Deptford Players


News and Happenings

New! After much delay, productions stills for Shrew and the 2003(!) New Plays have been added to the site. (April 2005)

Two Gents is no more, those of you who missed it, missed a fine production of this rarely staged play.(April 2005)

Deptford recveived a $500 grant from The Nancy Quinn Fund to help with our Spring Shakespeare Production. (December 2004)

Manhattan Bridge Club, where we held our reading series, has moved. We think (and hope) that we'll be able to continue our Reading Series in their new space. If not, we'll need to find a new venue. We're catching up on our backlog of script submissions, too. (27 May 2004)

Shrew closed well and we are very happy with the ArcLight theatre. Hopefully our schedule and theirs will mesh and we'll be able to call it home for foreseeable future. (26 May 2004)

The 2003 Season is over, closing strongly with the New Play Festival. We're looking forward to 2004 and The Taming of the Shrew. We'll be in a new space for Shrew, the Arclight Theatre, which is a lovely space on 71st St., just off Broadway.( 20 January 2004)

Uncle Vanya has closed. The show went well, although the fourth worst snowstorm in New York City history did cut down on audience attendance somewhat. Those of you who missed the show missed a treat, and we missed seeing you. (3 March 2003)

Deptford will be at the Sanford Meisner Theatre for our 2003 season, we've already booked the dates so look for the season announcement in December.(13 November 2002)

We're taking the fall off from production since our long time home, The New 42nd Street Theatre, had its lease bought out from under them. (That's why Macbeth was at CAP21 rather than the theatre with which Deptford audiences had become familiar.)

This fall we are working on finding a new theatrical home for either the long or middle term -- at least a year at a time. If any of Deptford's friends and patrons have ideas or leads, we'd love to hear them! Drop us a line ... (15 September 2002)

The June reading of Young Turg went well, and plans are underway for another reading series in the fall. (1 August 2002)

Macbeth closed strong selling out the last two shows at CAP21, which is a 98 seat house. The show was great fun. (13 May 2002)

The Hollow Crown benefit was a great success. The party was fun and the performance went off quite well. We'll get a picture or two up soon.(12 March 2002)

We've joined the Network for Good. which allows people to make contributions to the Deptford Players online. Please give it a try!(9 February 2002)

The year has started off with a bang. The New 42nd St. Theatre, where we produced Journey's End, The Trials of Martin Guerre, Julius Caesar and Castro's Beard is no more. The landlord bought out their lease and the owners have moved on. The space was also home to West Side Dance Project and City Music Schools. Those operations have relocated to a space on W. 36th St., along with the rehearsal studios. Deptford is working with Joira Productions, the managers of the New 42nd, to try to find a new performance space that would be managed jointly. We are very excited about the idea of finding a permanent theatrical home. (18 January 2002)

Castro's Beard has closed.(15 October 2001)

The Deptford Players production of Castro's Beard will continue to run, and the Thursday night performance will take place. However, we will reschedule or refund any prepaid tickets for that night's performance even after the performance date.

We feel it is our duty as performers and entertainers to carry on. If we allow recent events to destroy all the joy, love and light in our lives, then the goal of the attackers will have been achieved.

Jeff Berry, 12 Sep 2001

We've added new staff! Chris Roberts, Erik Ryle, Judy Scher, Lorraine Stobbe and Dudley Stone -- all names familiar to Deptford audiences -- have joined the Deptford Players officially as officers. We are delighted to have this talented group on board. (24 July 2001)

The Trials of Martin Guerre will be published this fall by Eldridge Publishing. Congratulations to playwright Frank Cossa! (23 July 2001)

The Deptford Players production of Journey's End has won an OOBR Award, given by the off-off-Broadway review. The award was made last night, June 25, at the oobr Awards ceremony in New York. This makes a us a multiple award winning company in our first year of full production. (25 June 2001)

Our 2002 season is starting to fall into place. We'll be doing Macbeth in April, and our fall show will be Forest for the Trees by Jeff Berry, who Deptford audiences may remember as Cassius in Caesar or from other Deptford shows. We are trying to arrange for original handbell music for that show, composed by Ralph Karow. The third show of the season has not yet been decided upon. (24 June 2001)

At the A.R.T./New York annual meeting, the Deptford Players received a "Local Hero Award". More details are here. (7 May 2001)

The oobr review of Julius Caesar is out, and is very favorable. (27 April 2001)

The reading of Identities went well, and the playwright who had come from Colorado seemed pleased. (12 March 2001)

Our reading of Forest for the Trees went well and the play was very well received. We are looking forward to next week's reading.(5 March 2001)

Our next show has been scheduled, Julius Caesar for April. (2 January 2001)

We finished up the run of The Trials of Martin Guerre. It was certainly an interesting experience. We learned a lot. The show was a great success artistically, less so financially, so if you are looking for a late year tax break remember the Deptford Players in this Holiday Season. (18 December 2000)

Yet another review, this time in TheatreMania.Com(15 December 2000)

Another nice review for Martin Guerre, Show Business Weekly.(5 December 2000)

More reviews for Martin Guerre
New York Theatre Experience
(4 December 2000)

The Trials of Martin Guerre has almost finished its preview run, and the first reviews are beginning to appear, like this one in oobr.(20 November 2000)

Attic Salt Theatre Company will be performing their new childrens' theatre show at the New 42nd St. Theatre during the run of The Trials of Martin Guerre. They'll be peforming on Sunday afternoons, when we're dark, and we're happy to have a chance to work with them -- another way that theatre companies can work together to make theatre stronger. (24 October 2000)

The reading of Castro's Beard went quite well. We were delighted to have with us both the playwright and his brother from England.(15 October 2000)

Our fall reading series has been scheduled. (27 September 2000)

The Deptford Players now accept credit cards over the phone for advance ticket sales, and also for donations -- in case you are looking for that little extra tax write-off.(25 September 2000)

The Shaw plays have closed and now we're looking forward to a change of pace, The Trials of Martin Guerre.(22 August 2000)

Another Shaw review is in ... this one from oobr the off-off-Broadway review. (18 August 2000)

The Shaw One Acts are open, and reviews are starting to trickle in. CurtainUp has a review online, and we expect the OOBR review any time now. (15 August 2000)

We are moving ahead with both the Midtown International Theatre Festival and the Shaw One-Acts and also with The Trials of Martin Guerre. Advance tickets are now on sale for Martin Guerre.(9 July 2000)

[JE 
Artwork]

Journey's End, closed after a splendid final weekend! Houses were strong, the show was strong, and we here at the Deptford Players are extremely proud. (For a review of the production, see the Off-Off Broadway Review.(28 June 2000)

We will be participating in the Midtown International Theatre Festival sponsored by the Off-Off Broadway Review. Deptford will be presenting two One-Act plays by George Bernard Shaw, The Music Cure and How He Lied to Her Husband.(23 June 2000)

Journey's End has opened! A lot of work has been put in by a talented artistic and technical staff and the result is a strong production.(11 June 2000)

Check out the Information, Photos and Whatnot page for Journey's End.(18 May 2000)


Interested in history? Check out the Deptford Players old news page.