“New Members Are Always Welcome”

Founded in 1948, the Hudson Players’ Club is the oldest continuously operating English language amateur theatre group in Quebec. Community response was enthusiastic from the first. 1949 saw four plays, and in 1950 the Club mounted five productions, one of which was judged the best play in the first-ever Western Quebec One-Act Play Festival, held at Victoria Hall in Westmount. The Hudson Players Club won for best play the next year again, for Riders to the Sea. An ambitious production of Ibsens’ Ghosts was “highly recommended” at another competition in 1953.

In 1966 the Hudson Players Club participated in a series of one-act plays televised by CTV.

Helen-Zajchowski-1955-Production-Craigs-Wife

Helen Zajchowski in the 1955 production
of Craig’s Wife

HPC-A-Delicate-Balance-1990

A Delicate Balance (1990)

HPC-Dearly-Departed-1982

The Dear Departed (1982)

HPC-Dial-M-For-Murder-2007

Dial M for Murder (2007)

HPC-The-Game's-Afoot-2025

The Game’s Afoot (2025)

HPC-See-How-They-Run-1984

See How They Run (1984)

HPC-One-Flew-Over-The-Cuckoos-Nest-2019

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (2019)

HPC-Tempest-2018

Tempest (Shakespeare by the Lake, 2018)

HPC-The-Great-Gatsby-2016

The Great Gatsby (2016)

HPC-The-Rape-of-The-Belt-1971

The Rape of the Belt (1971)

HPC-Toad-of-Toadhall-1973

Toad of Toad Hall (1973)

In 1968, at the invitation of the Deputy Minister, the Club moved their productions to the Cité des Jeunes school in Vaudreuil, the first English-speaking troupe to perform there. Major productions at the Cité included The Cocktail Party, Mother Courage, The Rape of the Belt, Blithe Spirit, Toad of Toad Hall, and The Girl in the Freudian Slip.

Mainly for economic reasons, the Club returned to the boards of the Hudson High stage in 1973, in time for its 25th-anniversary celebrations.

In 1976 Hudson’s local Cinema, the Royal Theatre (on Main Street, where Hudson Pools and Spa is now), closed, and for a couple of years the club presented plays on its small stage. Funds were raised but not enough to buy the cinema, so the club continued to perform on the High School stage until the Village Theatre was completed.

Hudson Players’ first performance at its present home, the Village Theatre, in Hudson’s former train station, was in 2002. It was Steel Magnolias — so popular they added an extra performance. In 2017 the club’s production of Balconville won the META award for outstanding community production.

Jack Layton Park in Hudson has provided the setting for many memorable Shakespeare By The Lake productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Much Ado About Nothing, as well as an original production, For The Love of Shakespeare.

Research and written by Alexandra Topolski