In 1937, Connecticut”™s theater scene welcomed the arrival of a group in Wilton that staged a production of George M. Cohan”™s comic mystery “The Tavern” as a fundraiser for the American Red Cross. Using the Wilton Town Hall as its auditorium, the production ran two nights and raised more than $600 ”“ which was no mean feat considering tickets were only 50 cents.
“The Tavern” was presented under the banner of “The Wilton Play Shop” and its successful reception inspired the production”™s talent to go further into a full theatrical season. The 1937/38 season for the company ”“ now called The Wilton Playshop ”“ was an ambitious mix of comedy, drama, romance and family-friendly fun.
Fast-forward to today and The Wilton Playshop is still an energetic force within the Fairfield County arts environment. The company is at the tail end of its 85th season, having completed a retelling of the invigorating rock musical classic “Godspell” while now getting ready for an interpretation of another innovative musical “The Last Five Years,” which will have a June 2-3 limited engagement.
Laura Ploss, the president of The Wilton Playshop, pointed out that her theater company holds a unique place within Connecticut”™s theatrical history.
“We are one of the oldest continuously performing community theaters in the Northeast,” she said. “I say ”˜continuously”™ because there are some others that are close to the same age as us. But they didn’t keep up performances during World War II, and we have records that we did. Even during Covid, we did things online, as did a lot of theaters.”
Ploss added that The Wilton Playhouse was not in its setting at 15 Lovers Lane in Wilton during its first two decades.
“When the theater was started, it was the performing wherever they could find space,” she laughed. “Then the building was built in the 50s.”
As a nonprofit community theater, The Wilton Playhouse has pushed its actors and stage crew into works that would challenge the Broadway crowd: Noel Coward”™s dry comedies, Edward Albee”™s blistering emotional dramas and big musicals such as “Sweet Charity” and “Half a Sixpence” have been part of its line-up over the years. Family-oriented entertainment is a perennial during the Christmas season and staged readings of new plays occur throughout the year.
“We try to do a lot of different things,” said Ploss, recalling that the theater even staged an opera to take advantage of the presence of Benny Jones, an opera singer who lived in Wilton.
Ploss has been involved with The Wilton Playhouse since her teen years, noting that her participation was “because my parents were involved. And, needless to say, I’m a lot older now ”“ I’m about to be 65, so I have a lot of history there. I was president when I was in my thirties, and I”™m in my second slot as president now.”
While The Wilton Playshop debuted original shows in the past, Ploss admitted it has been a long time since it opted to use its stage as a world premiere.
“Most of the time we try to go for shows that work in our community theater,” she said. “We rely on filling the seats in order to pay our bills ”“ and because we own our own building, we’re always trying to patch roofs and replace furnaces and things like that.”
Ploss cited grants from state entities such as Connecticut Humanities and Department of Economic and Community Development and sponsorship from Fairfield County Bank has helping to keep the theater operational, and she also expressed gratitude to local advertisers who promote themselves in the programs handed out during each performance.
Attendance of the theater”™s shows is a tradition in the town ”“ “Wilton is a great audience,” Ploss beamed ”“ and people have come from across Fairfield and New Haven counties to check out the productions. A Norwalk youth program called Rising Stars recently began to rent the theater to stage their shows.
For “The Last Five Years,” the theater”™s next offering, director Joe Michaels is eager to introduce Wilton to a work that was well received in Off-Broadway, regional and London staging and in a 2014 film version starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.
“It’s an interesting play because it only has two characters,” Michaels said. “It’s a musical, and one character, the woman, is lamenting her divorce to the other character. And that goes on throughout the entire production. The male character is actually going back in time and talking about the marriage, so it takes place at the same time on the stage, back and forth.”
Michaels”™ career is mostly focused in television production, but he is eager to return to the stage for this production.
“It”™s a lot of fun for me,” he said. “Because once you get it going and it’s on the stage, it’s done. It”™s the same with a live TV production ”“ once you get what you get on the air, there’s no turning back. I really get excited by these kinds of things.”
