One community-based organization is celebrating a major milestone this year.

It is the 50th anniversary of the Community Players of Greene County. Josh Tuel is a member of the Community Players of Greene County and most recently served as the director of the “Gather Round the Radio” reader’s theater style production that was held last month at Spring Lake Park. He talks about how impressive it is for this community theater organization to be around for five decades.

“It’s really a mark of pride I think for a lot of the folks who are associated with the Community Players because it’s not easy to keep a community theater going year, after year, after year. You really rely on exactly what it is, the support from the community. The arts, in general, in smaller towns have faded a little bit. I think Jefferson is a shining example of a small town that really embraces the arts.” 

Tuel describes the flexibility of being involved in a Community Players production, which isn’t a huge time commitment.

“You can kind of tailor your rehearsal schedule and things like that to the cast you have and what their needs are. If you are in the cast, depending on the size of your role, it’s anywhere from six weeks to two months of commitment a few nights a week. Not everybody needs to be at every rehearsal all the time.”    

Tuel says they always need help with stage prop building, costumes, and other tech positions. Tuel encourages anyone, especially young people, to reach out to Clay Ross or John Schoening to find out more about upcoming productions or the organization itself.