Cambridge community theatre with 90-year history calling for volunteers, donations

Mallory Moxon-Carson (left) and Jane McWilliams (right) stand among the rows of seats inside Cambridge Community Players on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV News)

A creative hub and community theatre in Cambridge recently celebrated 90 years of show business, but the institution’s age is showing.

Cambridge Community Players is in need of upgrades and volunteers in order to keep putting on quality productions, which they’ve done for close to a century.

“As far as our knowledge is, we are the longest continuous-running amateur theatre in Ontario,” said Jane McWilliams, executive chair for the theatre. “We do musicals, we do dramas, we do comedies. We do four shows a year in our season.”

But they haven’t always performed on the same stage.

“We ended up in this building as our permanent home in the mid-‘80s,” said McWilliams.

Parts of the building are beginning to reflect that too.

“The lights that are hanging from the ceiling here, we would love to see go. They are from the ‘80s… these are a nightmare to change,” explained Mallory Moxon-Carson, trustee for the theatre. “Behind the bar we need a dishwasher because pretty soon we will not be able to use plastic.”

Not to mention, the carpet needs to be replaced at some point as do other aging parts of the converted church.

But in order to keep putting on the same level of performances, they require helping hands.

“Those shows are all done, as I said, by amateurs, by volunteers. Nobody is paid to do those productions from beginning to end,” McWilliams said.

The theatre isn’t in jeopardy by any means, but they want to get ahead of any problems so that it doesn’t interrupt future productions.

A list of upcoming productions at the Cambridge Community Players. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV News)

That’s why volunteers and community donations are so vital to bringing the shows to life – especially at a time when they’re seeing audience numbers climb.

It’s something McWilliams said will be beneficial for their next show – Cinderella the Pantomime.

“[It’s] traditionally very interactive with our audience,” she explained.

And given the name of the theatre itself, community is what’s gotten this theatre to its 90-year milestone in the first place.

“There is an incredible joy in being part of something bigger than you could possibly do by yourself,” Moxon-Carson said.