DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture Texas in the early 1920s. The Little Theater movement is stirring across the state — towns waking up to the idea that art doesn't have to come from somewhere else.
It can come from your neighbors, your professors, your businessmen, dressed up under the lights and speaking somebody else's words better than you'd expect. Sherman, Texas, was watching all of this, and in December of 1925, Sherman decided it was time to stop watching. A group of local citizens formed their own community theater and joined the growing ranks of Texas cities with a Little Theater group.
Three names rise to the top of that founding story. Rollin M. Rolfe, an architect who served as the organization's first president.
Francis Emerson, a professor over at Austin College. And James Fant, a businessman. Those three were instrumental in guiding the group through its early growth and success, and that's no small thing — most ambitious ideas don't survive their first winter.
This one did. In early 1926, the Sherman Little Theater put on its first production, Old Man Minick, with a cast made entirely of local citizens. And then, that same year, they entered Texas' very first Little Theater competition, held in Dallas, performing a play called Moontide.
They won first place. First competition. First place.
Sherman, Texas. Several plays a year, year after year — other than during World War II, when the whole country had bigger things on its mind — and the community kept showing up, kept supporting what these folks were building. By 1950, the group formalized what everybody already knew it was, and incorporated as the Sherman Community Players.
Then came the question every theater group eventually has to answer: where do you actually live? In 1954, they built the Finley Playhouse right here at this site — a permanent home for rehearsal, for performance, for the whole beautiful mess of putting on a show. The Finley Playhouse would later become the Finley Cultural Center, and by 2000 the Finley Complex had grown to include the Honey McGee Playhouse and facilities for a children's program, with an experienced professional staff to go along with it.
What started with a handful of Sherman citizens in December of 1925 became something that outlasted the founders, outlasted a world war, and as of 2001 was still, by all accounts, an integral part of Sherman's cultural life and history. Turns out the best productions aren't always the ones on stage. Sometimes they're the ones that just keep going.
What the marker says
In the early 1920s, as the Little Theater movement was developing in Texas, a group of Sherman citizens formed a community theater to present dramatic productions to local audiences. In December 1925, Sherman joined the growing ranks of Texas cities with a Little Theater group. Architect Rollin M. Rolfe, who served as first president, Austin College professor Francis Emerson and businessman James Fant were instrumental in guiding the organization to its early growth and success. The Sherman Little Theater's first production, Old Man Minick, debuted in early 1926 with a cast of local citizens. The same year, the group won first place in Texas' first Little Theater competition in Dallas with the play Moontide. Producing several plays each year, other than during World War II, and enjoying broad community support, the theater group incorporated in 1950 as the Sherman Community Players. To provide the players with a permanent rehearsal and performance facility, the Finley Playhouse (later the Finley Cultural Center) was built at this site in 1954. By 2000 the Finley Complex included the Honey McGee Playhouse. With a permanent venue for its presentations and facilities for a children's program, together with an experienced professional staff, the Sherman Community Players have continued to serve as an integral part of Sherman's cultural life and history. (2001)