history

Richmond Hill Players started as a dream of a half dozen people in 1968 when they staged a single production, Molière’s "The Miser." The group converted the top floor of an old dairy barn to fit their needs and has never looked back. The recently renovated Barn now seats 165 per performance in a rare and unique in-the-round environment beneath the original, rustic timbers.

Approximately 150 active members are involved on and off-stage each year. Actors, directors, backstage personnel, support staffs, and audience are drawn from a 60-mile radius that includes cities in Illinois and Iowa.

Currently, the Players stage all six productions at the Barn in a season running from February through October. RHP prides itself in presenting a wide variety of comedies, dramas, and thrillers that local audiences might not otherwise have the opportunity to see. The group strives to stretch both audiences and participants, seldom hesitating to schedule productions that present casting or technical challenges.

past productions

* indicates Dinner Theater performances which you can read more about at right.

2007

Arsenic & Old Lace

Death Takes a Holiday

King 'O The Moon

A Few Good Men

Arcadia

California Suite

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

2006

The Sunshine Boys

Cliffhanger

Perfect Wedding

Proof

Bad Year for Tomatoes

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

2005

Romance In D

The Good Doctor

You Can't Take It with You

Another Part of the Forest

Over the Tavern

Bad Seed

2004

Driving Miss Daisy

Breaking Legs

The Desk Set

Invitation to a March

Pack of Lies

Steel Magnolias

2003

The Odd Couple (female)

Shadowlands

On Golden Pond

Bertha, The Beautiful Typewriter Girl

Getting & Spending

Moon Over Buffalo

2002

Rumors

The Unexpected Guest

Scapin

Fatal Attraction

All Because of Agatha

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

2001

*The Hand That Cradles the Rock

Dearly Departed

Bloody Jack

Dancing at Lughnasa

The Cemetary Club

Play It Again, Sam

2000

*Don't Drink The Water

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

All in the Timing

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Man with the Plastic Sandwich

*Sylvia

1999

*It's a Scream

Moon Over the Brewery

Ordinary People

Don't Mention My Name

Close Ties

*Beau Jest

1998

*Cahoots

Deathtrap

Dream Lover

Lost in Yonkers

Take a Number, Darling

*Under Papa's Picture

1997

*Lunch Hour

A Month of Sundays

Rainbow Bar & Grill

Brighton Beach Memoirs

The Foreigner

*Lie, Cheat & Genuflect

1996

*Do Not Disturb

I'll Be Back Before Midnight

Harvey

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds

Second Time Around

*1940's Radio Hour

1995

*Lend Me A Tenor

Allocating Anne

Diary of Anne Frank

Squabbles

Ravenscroft

*The Farnsdale Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of "A Christmas Carol"

1994

*Lily, the Felon's Daughter

Too Soon for Daisies

Alone Together

Let It Rain

Crimes of the Heart

*Who's On First

1993

*Natalie Needs A Nightie

Luxury Cruise

Bulldog and the Bear

Done to Death

Blythe Spirit

*Vice as in Versa

1992

*Big Bad Mouse

Arsenic & Old Lace

Cheaper by the Dozen

Mr. Roberts

The Odd Couple

*Last of the Red Hot Lovers

1991

*Captains Outrageous

The Whales of August

A Gentleman & A Scoundrel

Twigs

Witness for the Prosecution

*Love, Sex and the IRS

1990

*Lovers Leap

The Mind with the Dirty Man

The Murder Room

The Rainmaker

Middle of the Night

*Don't Tell Mother

1989

*1940's Radio Hour

I'm Not Rappaport

Play On

Our Town

Par for the Corpse

*The Nerd

1988

*The Creature Creeps

*The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

The Savage Dilemna

Bus Stop

Dominique

*Saving Grace

1987

Horowitz & Mrs. Washington

Twelve Angry Men

Merton of the Movies

Murder Once Removed

The Sunshine Boys

*Natalie Needs a Nightie

*More Than Meets the Eye

*Last of the Red Hot Lovers

1986

If A Man Answers

Honestly! Now

Rebecca

Ah! Wilderness

1985

Under Papa's Picture

Death Of A Salesman

Charley's Aunt

Tribute

1984

*Star-Spangled Girl

*Egad - The Woman In White

*The Fantasticks

A Wind Between The Houses

The Butler Did It

I Was Dancing

1983

*Lily, the Felon's Daughter

*A Roarin' 20's Review

Cheaper by the Dozen

The Burning Man

The Absence of a Cello

*A Bad Year for Tomatoes

*A Bowl Full of Jelly

1982

Gramercy Ghost

The Odd Couple

The Little Foxes

1981

Tartuffle

Mr. Roberts

On Golden Pond

1980

Play It Again, Sam

My Three Angels

Catch Me If You Can

1979

I Never Sang For My Father

The Curious Savage

Ladies In Retirement

1978

Up A Tree

Send Me No Flowers

Picnic

1977

Separate Tables

Come Blow Your Horn

Solid Gold Cadillac

1976

Plaza Suite

Here Lies Jeremy Troy

Ah! Wilderness

1975

Barefoot In The Park

Black Comedy & The Public Eye

Rock-A-Bye Daddy

1974

Arsenic & Old Lace

Butterflies Are Free

The Impossible Years

1973

The Mousetrap

Don't Drink The Water

Pool's Paradise

1972

Life With Father

Wait Until Dark

The Odd Couple

1971

See How They Run

You Can't Take It With You

Never Too Late

1970

Surprise

Bell, Book & Candle

Jenny Kissed Me

1969

Everybody Loves Opal

Spiral Staircase

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker

1968

The Miser

DINNER THEATER

In 1982 Richmond Hill Players began augmenting the regular season at the Barn with dinner theater productions at The King's Table Restaurant in Geneseo. This successful collaboration provided a venue for the production of numerous comedies, melodramas and mysteries.

When The King's Table was destroyed by fire in 1988, dinner theater went looking for a new home. A handful of shows were produced in varied locations, including the Geneseo Country Club, Moose Lodge and Legion Hall, as well as the Moline Holiday Inn. Ultimately, dinner theater settled into twice yearly performances in the conference rooms at The Deck Restaurant and Motel in Geneseo.

In 2001, owners of the The Deck announced their decision to sell it and several other commercial properties. With the long-term future of the restaurant in question, RHP extended the season at the Barn from May to October as a temporary measure and forged ahead with long-planned renovations to make the Barn a year-round facility. "The Hand That Cradles the Rock" was the group's final dinner theater presentation in spring 2001.

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