The Mount Allison Players Society was created in November 1939 as a replacement for its predecessor, The Little Theatre Society, which had been a closed organization with a membership limited to 25 people. The formation of the Players Society was a conscious effort to make it a campus-wide “open” one, in which all students, not just members, were welcome to attend meetings, tryouts, rehearsals, etc. Its aim was to give practical instruction in acting, stage lighting, property work, make-up, and costume. A new constitution was proposed and passed in March 1941. The new body of laws provided for a reorganized executive, a larger voting membership, and an increase in the amount of acting, directing, and technical work necessary for the awarding of distinctions. It was a student-run organization which had the aid of a faculty advisor each year.
Image includes the following Mount Allison Players Society actors (left to right): Jene (Wood) Stewart, Heber Kean,
Eleanor (Hickman) Davis, Bill McLaggan, Ken Homer, Robert Baxter, Pat (Saunders) McKinna and Bob Clark.
Mount Allison University Archives. Picture Collection, 2007.07/2367. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Image includes standing (left to right): Suzanne Cox, Ralph Webber, Reg Gunn, Jim Thorton, Tom Pickard, Joyce Woodward, Bill Turner, Freda MacLay, Sandy Lumsden, Bob Benn, Jim Cook, and Lindsay King; seated (left to right): Pat McCurdy, John Farmer, Don Cameron, Aileen Vincent-Barwood, and Walter MacDonald.
Mount Allison University Archives. Stephenson - Benn family fonds, 8434/16. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Image includes sitting in the front row (left to right): Barbara Reynolds, Cathy Hall, Cy Young, Rachel MacLean and Dean Cheshire; standing in the middle row (left to right): John Farmer, Reg Gunn, Bob Benn, Wendy Campbell, Fred Neal, Ken Jennings, Tom Simms, Wilson Yates, Bryce McKeil, Bob Newhook, Kathy Know, Ken Lund, Lindsay King, and Don Dobson; back row standing (left to right): Hank Hargreaves, George Stark, Fred MacRae and Al MacLeod.
Mount Allison University Archives. Stephenson - Benn family fonds, 8434/18. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Includes cast members (left to right): Co-directors Gordon Mackinnon and John Roberts, Vaughan Tower, Jeanette Stewart, Phyllis MacDonald, Geoffrey Janes and Ron Irving.
Mount Allison University Archives. Jim Sharp fonds, 2001.33/2/5/20. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Includes cast members (left to right): Henry Currie, Betty Hargrove, Jean Sharp, Hugh Watson, David Gros, and director Henry Hargreaves.
Mount Allison University Archives. Jim Sharp fonds, 2001.33/2/5/19. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Includes cast members (left to right): Don Dobson (co-director), Claude Campbell, Dorothy Ellis, Bob Newhook, and Bill Langstroth.
Mount Allison University Archives. Jim Sharp fonds, 2001.33/2/5/18. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Includes cast members (left to right): Avis Hartling, Lorna Creelman, Ian MacMillan, Suzanne Cox, John Hughson, Patrick Kavanaugh, Marg Swan, and co-directors Ken Lund and Joan Brown.
Mount Allison University Archives. Jim Sharp fonds, 2002.33/2/5/17. May only be reproduced with permission of the Mount Allison University Archives.
Starting in 1940, the Players organized the Inter-Class Drama Festival in which each of the freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior classes mounted a production. The competition was adjudicated, and the winning class would win a silver challenge cup. The festival was held every year until 1971, with the exception of 1943 when it was not held due to the increased demands of war work on campus. The influence of world affairs was again seen in the 1945 Senior Class presentation of "Auf Wiedersehn," directed by Arthur Motyer, who was a student at the time. The play won the silver challenge cup that year.
The Mount Allison Players would also present at least one (but sometimes two) major productions annually. They would frequently enter plays in the New Brunswick Regional Drama Festival or, in later years, the Moncton One-Act Play Festival. In 1949 the Mount Allison Players sent a production to Saint John for the Dominion Drama Festival regional competition. "The Emperor Jones" won top honours and travelled to Toronto to take part in the finals. In 1952 Sackville hosted some of the performances of the New Brunswick Regional Drama Festival. From 1950 to 1954 the society also participated in the non-competitive Inter-University Drama Festival alongside students from Dalhousie and Acadia. In 1958 the Players Society celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Inter-Class Drama Festival. Noel Coward's "Present Laughter" was chosen for their major production and the Regional Festival was co-hosted by the Players and the Sackville Theatre Guild.
The Players Society became the Drama Club in 1967. During the summer of 1971, a committee was formed to examine the feasibility of hiring a drama coordinator for the University. The committee determined it was viable, and Joe Harwood was hired to fill the position.
In July 1975 Professor Arthur Motyer of the English department was appointed director of drama for Mount Allison. The Mount Allison Players Society ceased operations, and subsequent plays were Windsor Theatre productions.
For a chronological list of productions and members of the executive, please consult the following sources:
Below you will find a gallery of playbills from productions by the Mount Allison Players Society. Use the arrows on each side of the image to navigate the collection.
![Playbill for the [1967?] production of](https://libapps-ca.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/144156/images/MtA_Players_010.jpg)
You can find additional information about the Mount Allison Players, as well as more photographs, on our Descriptions Database.
