Pontiac Community Players

The Pontiac Community Players was founded in 2001 as the community theatre group of Pontiac County by Joan Conrod of Shawville. They have performed a multitude of plays, cabarets, murder mysteries, and musicals since. Innumerable hours have been contributed by a varied group of casts and crews to energize and vitalize our community with culture and the arts, as well as having an awful lot of fun.

This loosely organized group exists to create, encourage and support English-language theatre in our area and to develop the emerging talent of our local actors, directors, musicians, and playwrights. Usually, we can be found in local venues such as churches, community halls, and the auditorium at Pontiac High School. The group is open to everyone regardless of experience and is constantly looking for new members to get involved.
There is an annual general meeting every January where members of the leadership team are selected and plans are made for the upcoming year.

Something New Every Year

Over thirty different productions have taken place over the years, including popular musicals such as ‘Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’, as well as comedies such as ‘Maid to Order’ and ‘Caught in the Net’. Original works such as ‘The Dagg Haunting’ have also taken place. Recently, the group has branched out with original adaptations of popular Christmas stories as radio plays, such as ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.

2019 has so far featured a comedy in the Spring at Pontiac High (‘Man of the House’), and the upcoming ‘Happily Ever After: A Wedding Comedy’ in August. The musical ‘Man of La Mancha’ will happen in October, and then an adaptation of ‘Little Women’ for Christmas.
The Players have also been pleased to work with the Regional Outaouais Arts and Culture Touring Network, which brings artists and touring productions to different venues across our region, and there are plans for us to create a touring production soon. We’ve had a great partnership with Theatre Wakefield to bring specialists to run workshops on acting, directing and playwrighting.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Bristol Summer Comedy. Every August, the Pontiac Community Players puts on a comedy at Coronation Hall in Bristol for four nights of hilarity. Starting with a dinner show on the Wednesday evening, the show usually runs the last week of August (before Labour Day). It’s an amazing transformation to see the historic dance hall turned into a theatre each summer.