College Avenue Players

By John Hester LC‘94

Rutgers University has long offered a wide array of cultural activities and entertainment, which includes professional-quality productions by Rutgers Cabaret, the Livingston Theater Company, the Cabaret Theater and Little Theater at Douglass College, and of course the myriad of productions staged by students of the Mason Gross School of the Arts. Another theatrical group that may not be as well known, however, is the College Avenue Players.

The origins of the College Avenue Players are twofold. The group was first conceived in 1980 by Mark Hopkins RC’82 and Dave Soltero RC’83 as a forum for non-theater majors. According to original member David Morgan, the very first production was a variety show performed on the Douglass campus. This was followed in November of 1980 by a production of Woody Allen’s play “God.”

Only a few more productions followed, including the musical “Hair,” before the group simply drifted apart, and stopped performing. It would be nearly a decade before the College Avenue Players would be resurrected.

In 1989, students Jay Glick LC’93 and Steve Kaiser RC’90 took the step of revitalizing the group, founded on the same mission as the first incarnation – giving non-theater majors a public platform to display their theatrical talents. The College Avenue Players had another lease on life, and this time, the group was here to stay.

Run on a shoestring budget since the beginning of its second incarnation, the College Avenue Players has long had a reputation of do-it-yourself, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants productions that could be attended for a nominal fee. The group doesn’t have a fancy studio or stage, as with many other Rutgers productions. The College Avenue Players’ homebase since its reincarnation more than three decades ago has been the no-frills Scott Hall on College Avenue.

Shows often revolve around sketch comedy, as in the group’s signature production, the annual fundraiser, Comic Relief. This show, and others like it, have often relied on reproducing comedy routines made famous by Monty Python, “Saturday Night Live,” and other classic shows, in addition to some original, student-written material.

Lacking a stage construction crew, the shows have sometimes included backdrops made from a black curtain duct taped to the lecture hall blackboards, and many found items that make up the set. “Backstage” is an area at either side of the stage, blocked off by chalkboards, or literally outside of the back doors of Scott Hall.

Far from detracting from the shows, this rough-hewn approach is at the heart of the appeal of the College Avenue Players. Productions often have the feeling that anything can happen, and it often does.

What is behind the productions, however, is a team of students just as intent at putting on a great show as that which you would find in the more “polished” Rutgers productions.

While comedy is at the core of the College Avenue Players, they have also staged many musicals and dramas over the decades. Productions from past years have included “Pippin,” “Butterflies are Free,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and many others.

The easy part is when things go right during a show. It is when things take an unexpected turn that the familiarity and comfort with fellow actors – developed during the long hours of late-night rehearsals – allows one to follow through and make the best of a difficult situation – forgotten lines, prop malfunctions, and the like. In past productions, “Improv Night” was a hallmark of the Comic Relief shows. On these nights, the cast would begin by following the script, then go “off script” to see where things would progress. If the stars happened to be aligned that night, cast members could riff off of one another and create comedy gold. If not, the sketch would often go down in flames in spectacular fashion.

One alum is actor Simon Feil MGSA’00. Following his years as a member of the group in the mid-1990s, Simon has had roles in many television productions, including “House of Cards,” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” as well as recurring roles in “Orange is the New Black,” “Inside Amy Shumer,” and many other shows. He has also had roles in films such as “Julie & Julia,” “Ocean’s 8” and others.

Perhaps the most notable member of the group was Katie Dippold RC’02, who achieved fame as a writer on the hit TV series “Parks and Recreation.” Katie was a member of the group during her Rutgers years in the late ‘90s and early 00s. Besides “Parks,” Katie’s writing career also includes the 2016 reboot of “Ghostbusters,” “The Heat,” starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, and “Mad TV.”

Despite a pause in productions due to the pandemic, the College Avenue Players continue to thrive more than three decades after being brought back from the dead.