Celebrating 50 Years of Gateway

Library : Jacob Edwards Library

Location : Jacob Edwards Library

Start : Thursday 7th of August 2025 6:30 PM

End : Thursday 7th of August 2025 7:30 PM

Description :

The Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to host an exhibit celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Gateway Players Theatre! Memorabilia will be on display throughout the month. Gateway Players Theatre, Inc. is an all-volunteer community theater providing quality live theatre performances and workshops to Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Charlton, Massachusetts and surrounding areas. Gateway Players Theatre, Inc. started in 1975, when a group of interested community members decided that Southbridge needed a theater group to bring live productions to the area. First using local schools and borrowed rehearsal and storage space, Gateway moved in 1978, when Ruth Wells (of the American Optical Company Wells family) donated her home on Main Street as a cultural center in Southbridge. In 2017 after an inspection was done of the barn, we learned that it had become structurally unsound. Gateway Players Theater’s home was no longer at the barn. Elm Street Congregational Church was kind enough to open their hall to the group. They have been utilizing the hall at the church for all of their auditions, rehearsals and performances, with the exception of summer musicals which are performed at Southbridge Middle High School due to the access to air conditioning.