After moving to the Ligonier Valley from Mt. Lebanon in 1965, Rita Frank became the moving force behind the formation of the Valley Players of Ligonier. Organized in October of that year, the Valley Players presented its first show, Harvey, with Walter St. Clair in the leading role on the stage of the Ramsey School. The show opened on February 25, 1966 and exactly 35 years later on February 25, 2001 the Valley Players presented its final performance of No Sex Please, We’re British on the stage of the Ligonier Theater. Four years later in 1969, the Valley Players put on its first musical, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, under the direction of Rita Frank and Eloise Brock.
For almost four decades, the Valley Players has played a vital role in enriching the cultural background of area residents. In 1971, Tessa Smith, a native of England who had studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, directed Private Lives, the first production in the newly built Ligonier Town Hall. She staged this Noel Coward comedy as an arena theatre production on a curtain less platform with no set and limited stage properties. Several years later in late summer of 1976, the Valley Players presented a workshop production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Directed by Gil Rambach, this show took place outside on the Diamond. The cast utilized the bandstand and the surrounding foliage for the different scenes and spectators brought folding chairs for seating.
In 1978, the Valley Players presented its most popular show-Fiddler On The Roof. Director Jim Mikula and Musical Director Carol Curtis assembled a cast of over 60 performers with Clarence Graham in the leading role of Tevye. With an advanced sale of 1400 tickets, the show broke all previous attendance records making it necessary to add a seventh performance to accommodate all those who wanted to see the show. One newspaper reporter said, “This production of Fiddler On The Roof could take the Valley Players out of the amateur ranks and put them among some professional troupes.”
The Valley Players took a major step forward in 1997 when the organization bought the Ligonier Theater and began a major renovation project in order to expand its programming and create a true performing arts center for the area. Interestingly, the Ligonier Theater has played a role in the history of the Valley Players almost from its inception. In the early years, those involved with the organization built flats and other scenery in the basement of the Ligonier Theater. They held rehearsals in The Studio, Mrs. Brock’s music school located on the second floor of the Ligonier Theater
The history of the Valley Players is rich and varied, and much has happened in these past four decades from the days when the cast had to rehearse in private homes to now when the cast has a permanent home in which to rehearse and perform and an office staffed by a full time staff person.