Footlight Players Information

The Footlight Players were ceremoniously launched in 1931 with a series of one-act plays directed by Lieutenant Commander Charles Russell Price at the Charleston Navy yard. The series was such a success and drew such a following that the Footlight Players formally organized in 1932. In 1934, the Players purchased an old cotton warehouse (circa 1850) with the idea of eventually converting it into a finished playhouse. Yet, until 1938, all Footlight productions were presented in a variety of spaces around the Holy City—the Academy of Music, the Victory Theatre, Hampton Park, The Citadel, and the Dock Street Theatre. During this time, the cotton warehouse was used for storage and scenery construction. In 1941, a shortage of performance space on the Peninsula caused the Players to turn to their warehouse. In 1986, after another dramatic renovation of the workshop, The Footlight Players moved into the old cotton warehouse at 20 Queen Street, where they have remained ever since. For eighty years, he mission of the Footlight Players has remained the same—to provide quality, affordable, and barrier-free community theatre of a professional caliber to the citizens of Charleston and the tri-counties, and to provide an organization in which local volunteers can participate in all aspects of theatrical productions.