July 9, 1965 marks the date of the first performance of the Davidson Community Players. There had been occasional theater productions in Davidson before and certainly townspeople had acted alongside students in college productions– but this was something new. Now there was an town organization and hopes for years of productions. The first production was directed by Constance Welsh and the play was written by her husband, music professor Wilmer Welsh.
Constance and Wilmer Welsh in 1969
Connie Welsh was central to the new organization and would show up on many of the programs in the years to come. She directed at least one of the company’s plays each year from 1965 to until her move to Charlotte in 1980. The company quickly moved from one summer production a year to multiple shows. Play choices ranged from familiar works (Our Town, Arsenic and Old Lace) to premiere’s and more challenging works. For their third offering in 1966, the company tackled Eugene Ionesco’s Bald Soprano.
Cast for first Children’s Drama Workshop – featuring many faculty children.
From 1965 to the mid-1970s, she also directed the Children’s Drama Workshop, offering acting classes for children that culminated in performances (with very short runs). The first of these productions, a play titled “Glad to Meet You,” was presented on April 2, 1966. In 1996, the Davidson Community Players revived the idea of live theater for children by establishing The Connie Company, named in her honor.
50 years later, DCP continues to flourish, due in great part to the dedicated early members not only gave of their time but encouraged newcomers to get involved. The earliest board members (who also served as assistant directors, set designers, box office, publicity and actors) include Ralph Quakenbush (whose business The Hub was the ticket office for many years), Peter Nicholls, Louise Thompson, Frank Bliss, and Hansford Epes. Early actors who graced multiple performances include Max Polley, Van Lear Logan, Ethel Rhodes, Ellen Winkler, Bob Manning, Louise Martin, Scotty Nicholls, Casey Jacobus, Randy Kincaid, Larry Ligo, and even college president, Sam Spencer.
New directors and new plays for DCP.
Within a few years, Tony Abbott, Rupert Barber, and Louise Hampton joined the roster of directors. By 1985, the company not only had a board of directors but also Pam Stephenson as the Executive Director. Her work was recognized in 2010 as a recipient of Davidson College’s Algernon Sydney Sullivan Community Award. The citation read in part, “The continuing vibrancy and increasing success of the Davidson Community Players is due to large extent to her energetic commitment to that treasured part of our community.”
Letter from DCP board chair Max Polley and executive director Pam Stephenson
The DCP’s productions have moved from rented space in college buildings, beginning with Hodson Hall to filling the much larger Duke Family Performance Hall and to their own facility, the Armour Street Theatre in 2008. The first production in the renovated Baptist Church was “Working,” a musical by Stephen Schwartz based on Stud Turkel’s oral histories.
Some old hands with newcomers to DCP in the 1986 production of Inherit the Wind: J. B. Stroud, Elisabeth Davis, Irvin Brawley, Kemp Sherrill, Roy Fuller, David Martin, Rand Hartsell, Robert Stephenson, Bob Manning, Robyn Oldham, Dave Hampton and Max Polley
There’s an adage that says “many hands make light work.” In DCP’s case, many hands have made theater work.
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