Bethel Park Heritage Players Community Theater

History

The Heritage Players is a community theater group based in Bethel Park, PA, just south of Pittsburgh. Currently in its eleventh season, the group actually has a rich history that dates back over forty years.

In 1962, a group of Bethel Park residents who were interested in providing themselves and other theater lovers with opportunities to fulfill their thespian longings formed a performance troupe. The original goal was to perform for friends and neighbors, but the group eventually moved west (to Carnegie, PA, just down the road) to continue its contributions to live theater in that community.

For fifteen years, no community theater existed in Bethel Park. However, in the mid-1990s, the Bethel Park Historical Society began to brainstorm ideas for making better use of their home at the Schoolhouse Arts Center building (the old Bethel Park school building). Almost immediately came the thought to resurrect live theater in Bethel Park. A board of directors was formed, headed by then BPHS President, Don Anderson.

The performance group was dubbed "The Heritage Players" to reflect its connection to and endorcement by the Historical Society. After close to a two-decade hiatus, community theater returned to Bethel Park when the Heritage Players bowed with Curtain Call: An Evening of One Acts on October 3, 1997. The plays performed that first 1997-98 season were "Episode in the Life of an Author" and "An Actors Nightmare."  The shows came together quickly, reflecting a commitment by the community to jump head-first into the waters of local live theater. Two full-length productions were undertaken the following spring.