The National Players is the longest-running classical touring company in the United States.
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After 63 consecutive seasons of touring, this acting company has given approximately 6,600 performances and workshops on plays by Shakespeare, O'Neill, Molière, Shaw, Kafka, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Stoppard and Peter Shaffer. Currently a program of Olney Theatre Center, National Players has performed for the public in 40 states, reaching young audiences in areas that are isolated geographically or economically – audiences that would otherwise never see live performances of classic plays. In response to invitations from the Department of Defense and the State Department, Players have toured Europe, Asia, and the Middle East performing for American military. During the Korean War, they made a six week tour of Japan and Korea to entertain GI’s, and have been to 5 White House receptions in appreciation for outstanding service.
National Players was founded through the efforts of one man, Father Gilbert V. Hartke, the founder and long-time chair of the Speech and Drama department of The Catholic University of America. Since 1949, a single twin-bill truck-and-station-wagon company, traveling under the banner of "Players, Incorporated," "University Players, " "Players," and finally "National Players," has continued to bring classic productions across the country from September to May.
A nationwide search of graduates of college and university theater programs leads to the casting of members of the touring company. In the tradition of traveling players, the troupe arrives a few hours before the scheduled performance to prepare the stage: raise the set, hang and focus the lights, check sound equipment and props, and arrange dressing rooms, before donning costumes and make-up. When the final curtain falls, they do everything in reverse.
National Players is now in its 63rd year of touring. This year's productions are Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and a stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
In 2010, the 62nd tour of National Players featured Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and a stage adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
In the fall of 2009, the 61st tour of National Players featured Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and an adaptation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
The National Players have received accolades from Walter Kerr, drama critic emeritus of the New York Times; Patrick Hayes, founder and managing director of the Washington Performing Arts Society; and the late Helen Hayes. Players' alumni include John Heard, Laurence Luckinbill, Gino Conforti, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Stan Wojewodski (former Dean of the Yale School of Drama) and David Richards (drama critic for the New York Times). Most recently, National Players received special recognition from The Shakespeare Guild, presenter of The Golden Quill, the Sir John Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts.