Elon Players Collection

The Elon Players were first known as the Playmakers of Elon College. According to The Bulletin of Elon College, the Playmakers of Elon College were a functioning student organization beginning in 1932 and lasting until 1964. According to the December 2, 1932 issue of the Maroon and Gold, the first play produced by the Playmakers was "You and I" by Phillip Barry on December 6, 1932. At that time, the Playmakers staged both original and well-known plays. They were members in the North Carolina Dramatic Association, and took part in its activities beginning in 1933. From 1935-1955, the Playmakers, (later known as, the Elon Players) held three full-length public performances per year called the "Players' Evenings." In 1939 the name changed from the Playmakers to the Elon Players as the organization became more prominent on Elon's campus. Its members held similar interests in writing and producing both original and well-known plays. Plays were produced regularly from , a Shakespeare class which produced an annual Shakespeare play, a Dramatic Literature class which wrote and produced its own plays for invited audiences and certain productions for the public by popular dramatists of the time. In addition, students not enrolled in these classes wrote and produced various plays. Also beginning in 1939, each student in the organization was a member of Elon's chapter of the National Dramatic Fraternity, Delta Psi Omega. According to the November 12, 1964 issue of the Maroon and Gold, the last play produced by the Elon Players was Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" on the third weekend in November of 1964.