Players de Noc celebrating 50th season

ESCANABA — A staple of performing arts in Delta County is celebrating a big anniversary this season.

Players de Noc, a community theater group in Escanaba, is busy preparing for what will be its landmark 50th season. The group has been a long standing tradition in the community, even predating its current home at the facility that has become William Bonifas Arts Center.

“It was close to ten years before they actually had a theater to call home,” said Lynn Soderberg, a long term Players de Noc member and director of their upcoming production of The Marvelous Wonderettes. “It wasn’t until 1974, when Saint Joseph’s Church, which is right across the street from us, offered the city of Escanaba the use of this building for one dollar a year.”

Around 2,500 artists have volunteered their time and effort to the group’s plays since its inception. Each year, Players de Noc puts on four productions, traditionally ending the season with a musical, but this year they’re doing it a bit differently.

“Because it is Players’ 50th anniversary, we are doing two musicals,” Soderberg added. “This first show that’s opening, The Marvelous Wonderettes, is a small musical featuring just four women and a live band on stage, and then we’re doing a huge musical revue in the winter time, which is going to feature songs from many of the musicals that Players have done throughout the past 50 years.”

The Marvelous Wonderettes kicks off the season starting Friday, October 3rd at 8:00 p.m.
For more information about Players de Noc, including additional show times and to purchase tickets, head to their website, playersdenoc.org.