Brogan: Jammin' with Jim!!!

In about 72 hours, Concord will get its first look at the long-awaited documentary chronicling the 95-year history of the beloved Community Players of Concord, NH.

On Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at 7:30 PM, The Players - The 95-year History of the Community Players of Concord, NH, will have its premiere. This free event is the initial offering in the Walker Lecture Series which, for over a hundred years, has been entertaining Concord audiences.

The documentary beautifully blends an historic portrait of the Community Players as they inaugurate their 95th season, with insightful interviews, entertaining memories and the story of a community that has embraced their theatrical offerings. Thanks to Concord TV, a grant from NH Humanities, the Walker Lectures and the passionate vision of Jim Webber, the Wednesday evening event and a subsequent screening as a fundraising event at red River Theatres on October 6th, the film is destined to be the talk of the city.

Recently I caught-up with Jim Webber. I've known him since we sang and dance in a Community Players production in 1980. Jim perfectly balances his continued work with the Players, with an exciting job with Concord TV and a fulfilling personal life. He took time, however, to answer some questions I put to him about this new venture.

Jim, what inspired you to not only celebrate the Players as they start their 95th season, but to tell their story?

I've always been fascinated with "backstage stories about the world of theatre" and the Community Players is the group I've been most associated with on and off since 1977 (when I played "Nick the Greek" in "Guys and Dolls" at the City Auditorium. When I joined in my twenties, I was always fascinated with the old guard Players, many of whom weren't all that old, but seemed so to me at the time. I wondered what shows they'd done in the past, how did they evolve from acting to directing. And I was interested in organizational operations, or the little I could glimpse from my place in "the chorus". The set and costume storage facilities at the time were pretty deplorable - and the group had been around for fifty years! The story of their search for a home, building their own studio, their involvement with the renewal of the City Auditorium and their advances in stagecraft were all fascinating to me. I thought, it might be important to remind the community of their overall story as the Players approach their 100th Anniversary in a few short years.

You've been affiliated with the Players for more than 40 years and have been attending their production for more than 50. As you worked on this documentary, what did you discover that surprised you the most???

Bob and Phyllis Stuart were historians of the group for over 35 years, and they kept up individual "service records" for each member - which began right at the beginning of the organization. I flipped through hundreds of pages detailing the volunteer work of hundreds of Players over the years - and I was fascinated and occasionally in awe of members who I'd only identified as actors, yet they did an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to keep the organization on track and growing. Betty Lee Bogue, Joanie Guardino, Bob Burns and many others did an enormous amount of committee work that rarely gets the applause - but it keeps the group going forward. And there were many other who were rarely or never actually on stage, who did the same. This is their story as well.

Why have the Community Players been able to continue for all of these years when other community theatrical organizations have not survived?

I think it's because they know they follow a long line of hard working and talented folks and as they go forward, they have a lot to live up to. When Mrs. Lovgren came in in 1932, she saw what they were and saw what they could be and raised bar. The Players recognized this and appreciated skilled leadership. And Harriet Strong and Bob Stuart passed it on, as did others. I think the Players still appreciate the value of hard work and are - compared to other groups - reluctant to feel easily self-satisfied, because they value striving for quality.

What would you like your audience to come away feeling, after watching this documentary?

You'll see in the documentary that both Kevin Gardner and Glenn Stuart make comments about the Players placing value on commitment to quality work. Although they're talking about the "heyday" in the Fifties, it does speak to the reason the community treasured the organization for many years. After talking movies killed tours of live theatre to towns like Concord, people still wanted to see plays on stage. And to see it featuring people you might know was even better - that was the "little theatre" movement when the group began. Yet, as the organization continued, bringing nationally known plays to Concord's stage, it provided a post-war recreation for young families and returning servicemen and women who wanted volunteer and have fun at the same time. That's community-building and that's something that's very important to remember, especially in this internet-connected, physically distant era we're living in now. We can't go back, but let's remember what had value.

Was it challenging to put together a team to tell this story?

It started out as a 35–45-minute project on paper and the finished film ended up running 95 minutes. So, it started with a small staff and ended with a small staff but looking back I wish I had a full-time photo editor to work with me along the way. (Luckily Michael von Redlich helped with some photo editing, Mike O'Meara at ConcordTV edited the entire film himself and was a blast to work with and brought such great ideas to the final product. And Concord TV Executive Director Josh Hardy - like Harve Presnell in "Molly Brown," "never said no." Awesome.) I have to thank the Community Players who gave me unrestricted access to their extensive archive and to New Hampshire Humanities for their financial support of this community-based project.

I began by scanning photos that I knew I might need, but at the same time I was writing the script, reading board meeting minutes, outlining and writing narration. I thought, "Oh, I can't keep this up through 95 years!" then I realized that the Players in the live video interviews were best at telling their own story and it would add variety to the film to quietly phase out he narration as we moved along. Erik Hodges and Kevin Gardner were in Players shows in the early 1960s and their memories recall what it was like to be at a rehearsal run by Harriet Strong - who joined the Players in 1934. To me, it was thrilling to record these memories that touch events back through history. We have audio tapes of two actors remembering the night Bette Davis came to see their play "Ladies in Retirement" in 1942 during the war. It's magical.

On Wednesday evening, will you be sitting in the audience at the "audi" watching or backstage preparing for the Q & A that will follow?

I will be in the audience watching. Only two Players have seen it so far and they enjoyed it, so I hope everyone does at the Walker Lecture.

I know where I'll be on Wednesday evening. I hope I'll be joined by hundreds more who want to embark on this amazing journey into a special part of our city's history.

Here is a link to the fall Walker Lecture Season. Fall 2022 Schedule — Walker Lecture Series