About 100 years after Hillsdale College’s founding, a student theatre troupe was founded, and Tower Players was born. 

 As the performing branch of Hillsdale College’s theatre department, The Tower Players present several productions to the student body and local community every year. This year, they’re paying homage to their heritage by performing “Our Town.”

Directing the play, associate professor of theatre Christopher Matsos researched the history of the Tower Players over the summer by looking through old editions of “The Collegian.”

“I spent a couple of days reading old Collegian articles from 1947 to 1950,” Matsos said. “I tried to look not only for information about the Tower Players, but also about campus life in general: what the atmosphere was like, what the students were like, and what they were interested in.”

Matsos drew several parallels between Hillsdale College in 1947 and 2022, explaining how both were periods of tremendous growth for the college. 

“This was immediately following the war and the college was growing faster than they knew how to cope with,” Matsos said. “They were building temporary housing and setting up trailers for students who were married and veterans.”

While the college tried to find ways to house its students and faculty, a professor named George Hale gathered a group of students to begin performing theatre productions. 

“There wasn’t really a theatre department at the time, it was just this one professor,” Matsos said. “In 1947, he decided to make a club and they met in Central Hall on the top floor, right beneath the tower.”

As described in old articles, the students would practice and perform their plays in this small space that they called the “Little Theatre.” Students would build their own sets, design their own costumes, and practice four to five nights a week in order to prepare for their productions. A review of their play, “Night Must Fall,” was published in the April 1, 1947 edition of “The Collegian,” and describes the audience, set design, and student performances. 

“The opening night of the play, Night Must Fall, Thursday, March 27th., saw a small but intellectual group of first-nighters,” the piece read. “At the rise of the curtain, the set was noticeably far superior to that of the play presented last season.”

The following semester, in the fall of 1947, Hale, along with several students, formed an official organization, the Hillsdale College Dramatic Club. The club gave students the chance to learn about stage techniques and provided a social opportunity for those interested in drama. 

“The purpose of the group will be to get all persons on campus who have a genuine interest in any phase of the Theater together as a single body,” Hale said in The Collegian. 

After performing several smaller, regional plays, Hale took a risk and cast Thornton Wilder’s play, “Our Town.”

“‘Our Town was probably the first larger, modern play they performed,” Matsos said. “At the time they did it, it was only about 10 years old. So to them it was a new play, and by all accounts, according to the reviews in the papers, it was really well done and very memorable.”

Finding a space larger than the “Little Theatre” in Central Hall, the Tower Players performed “Our Town” at the Hillsdale High School auditorium. The set was designed by students and the costumes were borrowed from Mr. Hugo Friedrichs, a Hillsdale local. 

Acknowledging the dedication and foresight of Professor George Hale and the students who founded the Tower Players 75 years ago, James Brandon, the chair of the theatre department, and the theatre faculty chose “Our Town” as the second fall production for this year. 

Brandon said it was a production that he was more than happy to present again. When Matsos mentioned he would like to direct the play at Hillsdale College, it just made sense to honor the Tower Players anniversary with this show.

Over the last 75 years, Matsos and Brandon agreed on the amount of growth the Tower Players, and theatre department as a whole, have experienced. 

“Tower Players is thriving, really, and it seems to only be getting better,” Matsos said. “We had almost 60 people come to auditions for the Fall shows, and we only have about 30 roles to give out. But we’ve taken great strides at finding opportunities for everyone.”

As the Tower Players celebrate their history and development, they hope to continue addressing cultural concerns, issues, and identity through theatre for years to come. 

“I hope the Tower Players are around for another 75 years,” Brandon said. “I think it will be because it’s such an integral part of the liberal arts experience. The Tower Players will always be a part of Hillsdale College.”