Cleveland Historical

The Shaker Players: Behind the Footlights

2025-10-15T01:51:36+00:00

Community theater has long been a hallmark of American civic life, offering ordinary people the opportunity to create extraordinary art together. Few local institutions embody this spirit as fully as The Shaker Players, a theater group rooted in Shaker Heights, Ohio. From their humble founding in 1919, the Shaker Players evolved into one of the oldest community theaters in Northeast Ohio, leaving an indelible mark on the region’s cultural landscape. Their story is one of tradition, collaboration, and a devotion to keeping theater accessible to all.

The Shaker Players trace their origins to Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. In 1919, a small group of young church members organized a play to raise funds for a new church building. They could hardly have known that this modest effort would grow into a community theater organization lasting for decades. From the start, the group drew on a wide cross-section of Shaker Heights residents. Business leaders, educators, and civic figures participated both onstage and behind the scenes, ensuring the theater was both artistically vibrant and socially embedded.

The troupe originally called themselves the Shaker Village Players, reflecting their role as a grassroots community project. Their first productions demonstrated a commitment not just to entertainment but also to strengthening the civic bonds of Shaker Heights during its formative years as a suburb. By the 1920s and 30s, the Players had become a fixture of Shaker Heights life. Their productions were staged with professionalism that belied their “non-professional” label, leading the group to be recognized as the oldest non-professional theater company in the region.

Part of their longevity came from a strong set of traditions that reinforced the sense of family within the company. One such tradition was the Women’s Committee'spotluck supper on the Sunday before opening night, where the cast and crew shared food and camaraderie. After the final curtain, the group held a celebratory Saturday night party, a chance to reflect on weeks of hard work. Regular meetings were also held on the second Tuesday of every month in the Shaker Heights High School auditorium, further cementing the rhythm of the group’s activities. These rituals gave the Players stability and continuity. They also reflected the communal ethos of Shaker Heights itself, which valued civic responsibility, social cohesion, and the arts as a marker of local identity.

From the beginning, the Shaker Players benefited from strong organizational leadership. Founders like Rachel Cochran guided the group in its earliest years, while later directors and committee members ensured continuity through decades of change. Many of those involved were prominent members of the Shaker Heights community, which lent credibility and stability to the organization.

Over the decades, the Shaker Players staged an impressive repertoire, ranging from classics to contemporary works. Productions like "Death Takes a Holiday" brought dramatic flair to local stages, while lighter fare ensured broad audience appeal. Their shows regularly drew coverage in the local press, including the Cleveland Press, the Sun Press, and the Plain Dealer, highlighting their visibility within Cleveland’s cultural community.

The group marked major milestones with special celebrations. In 1958, Dorothy R. Davis, the president of The Shaker Players at the time, commemorated their 40th anniversary, noting the group’s origins in 1919 and crediting Mrs. William (Rachel) Cochran, one of the founding members—for her early leadership. This recognition reinforced the Players’ reputation as a pioneering community theater.Five years later, in 1963–64, the company curated a historical exhibit titled “The Age of the Stage” to honor their 45th anniversary. This exhibit highlighted their history and underscored how deeply interwoven the Players were with the life of Shaker Heights.

The Shaker Players’ impact extended well beyond their productions. Their activities fostered community spirit, provided affordable entertainment, and gave local residents the chance to participate in the arts. For many, this was their first exposure to theater whether as an actor, stagehand, or audience member. By establishing themselves as a regular part of civic life, the Players helped shape Shaker Heights’ reputation as a suburb committed to culture and community. In this way, the group paralleled larger national trends in which community theaters blossomed after World War I, fueled by a desire to democratize access to the performing arts. Like all volunteer organizations, the Shaker Players faced challenges. Maintaining membership, funding, and audience interest required constant effort. Yet the group’s longevity speaks to their resilience.

Their history also reflects broader patterns in American suburban culture. The postwar years, particularly the late 1950s and early 1960s, saw a flourishing of civic organizations. For the Shaker Players, this meant greater visibility through media coverage and larger audiences as the suburb grew. At the same time, pressures of suburbanization, shifting leisure habits, and increased competition from professional theaters and television made sustaining community theater more difficult.

In 1964, The Shaker Players announced that they would be leaving their long-time home at The Shaker Heights High School auditorium. Press releases distributed during the closing of their 45th season indicated they were searching for a new venue, expressing optimism about the future. However, in May of that year, their final press release stated, "for its final production at Shaker Heights High School, after 45 years, Shaker Players will cast off with robust Cole Porter musical, 'Anything Goes.'" After their last bow behind the footlights, The Shaker Players faded from the public eye, never finding a new place to call home.

The Shaker Players hold a unique place in the history of Shaker Heights and the broader Cleveland region. Their longevity made them one of the oldest community theaters in Northeast Ohio, and their traditions, productions, and celebrations illustrate the power of theater to strengthen civic identity. Archival traces, such as photographs of productions like "The Whole World Over," newspaper articles, and the preserved memories of their members, allow us to reconstruct their vibrant history. These materials, particularly those preserved in collections like that of Dorothy R. Davis, provide invaluable insights into how local communities used theater to express themselves, celebrate milestones, and create lasting traditions.

Today, remembering the Shaker Players offers more than nostalgia. It highlights the enduring importance of community arts organizations in shaping civic culture. Just as their founders intended back in 1919, theater became not only a means of raising funds or providing entertainment but also a way of building connections among neighbors. From their beginnings as a church fundraiser to their recognition as a cornerstone of community life, the Shaker Players exemplify the vitality of grassroots theater in America. Their story is filled with dedicated volunteers, creative productions, and cherished traditions that spanned decades. While the Players may no longer be active today, their history remains a vital chapter in Shaker Heights’ cultural narrative. They demonstrated how theater, when rooted in community, can thrive for generations and leave behind a legacy that continues to inspire.

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Playhouse Square

2010-09-22T11:46:09+00:00

Playhouse Square emerged in 1921-22 with the opening of the State, Ohio, Allen, Palace, and Hanna theaters near the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East Fourteenth Street. The brainchild of Joseph Laronge, four of the five theaters were interconnected. The largest theater, the Palace, was built to host B. F. Keith's vaudeville performances. In addition to vaudeville, the theater district featured plays, motion pictures, and eventually Cinerama films. By the end of 1969, however, all of the theaters but the Hanna had closed due to declining attendance.

The Junior League of Cleveland was instrumental in saving the theaters from demolition in the 1970s, forming the Playhouse Square Foundation and working with Cuyahoga County commissioners to restore and reopen the theaters. By the turn of the twenty-first century, all of the original theaters were again hosting performances, constituting the nation's second largest performing arts complex after New York's Lincoln Center. In addition to ticket sales, the Playhouse Square Foundation developed an extensive real estate portfolio stretching from the theater district to the suburbs, which supported ongoing preservation of the historic properties themselves while contributing to broader economic development.

In recent years Playhouse Square Foundation added dramatic arches at three major approaches to the district, along with LED sign boards and the centerpiece GE Chandelier at Euclid and East 14th. The Foundation also funded a 34-story apartment tower, the Lumen, just east of the Hanna Building.

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Cleveland Play House: From East Side Farmhouse to Playhouse Square Fixture

2010-09-12T20:56:42+00:00

The story of the Cleveland Play House begins in 1915 with a series of meetings held at the home of essayist Charles Brooks. Charles and his wife Minerva Brooks met each week with eight of their friends to discuss theatre and the arts. Eventually, the well-to-do couple decided to form the Cleveland Play House, a professional theatre company that would offer performances of a more substantive nature than the vaudeville and burlesque acts popular at the time. With Brooks as president, the company held its first show in May 1916 in an old farmhouse on land owned by industrialist Francis Drury, who lived across the street in his mansion at 8615 Euclid Avenue.

As attendance grew, the farmhouse became inadequate. In 1917 the Play House spent nearly $9,000 to purchase and renovate a Lutheran Church at East 73rd Street and Cedar Avenue that could seat 160 people. Audiences soon became too big for this space, too, and in 1926 the company moved back to the Drury estate. This time, Drury donated his land to the Play House and in place of the old farmhouse were two new interconnected theaters: the 522-seat Drury Theatre and the 160-seat Brooks Theatre. In 1949 the Play House also added a third theater in a converted Christian Science church on Euclid Avenue and East 77th Street. The Play House's continued success led to the 1983 opening of a new complex on East 86th Street at Carnegie Avenue. The complex, which comprised a former Sears store and a new building designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, included the 550-seat Bolton Theater.

In 2009, after selling its East 86th Street complex to the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Play House announced it planned to move downtown. The move came just one year after the Great Lakes Theater Festival left its Lakewood home to take up residence in the Hanna Theatre. Cleveland Play House partnered with Cleveland State University to create a state-of-the-art complex for shared use in the revamped historic Allen Theatre.

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