Shadows, Signatures & Stagecraft at The Players

By LINDA DUPREE, The Players Foundation

The Players Nomination Book

October is the season when we think of the uncanny — and few names conjure it more than Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. But Stoker’s story is bound to The Players as well.

In our Nomination Book, Stoker’s 1893 candidacy for membership was proposed by Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and seconded by actor-playwright William Gillette — celebrated in his own day as the definitive stage Sherlock Holmes. Their signatures stand alongside those of architect Stanford White, artist F.D. Millet, and many more. Stoker's coterie of friends was large.

Inside The Players Nomination Book

Approximately a decade earlier, at the same moment Stoker was serving as Acting Manager for Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre, Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was playing in Irving’s sumptuous 1882 production of "Much Ado About Nothing." A man of dual gifts — both painter and actor, and himself a Player — Forbes-Robertson captured the church scene in a dramatic canvas that now hangs outside The Grill in The Players Foundation collection.

Painting by Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson

Taken together, these artifacts remind us that The Players has always been more than a club: it is a living intersection of literature, theatre, art, and history. In October — and all year — the stories of Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and Shakespeare echo through our rooms and archives.

Click to learn more about  The Players Foundation for Theatre Education

Linda Dupree

Linda Dupree, former CEO of NCSolutions, now serves on The Players Foundation board, bringing her corporate leadership to the preservation of theatre and cultural history -- driven by a deep belief in the transformative power of the arts.