(VINELAND, NJ) -- Cumberland Players will celebrate its 80th year of bringing live theatre to the community in 2026. Their anniversary season includes productions of The Importance of Being Earnest; The Last Five Years; Reefer Madness, The Musical; Six: The Musical TEEN EDITION; A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS; and The Pillowman.
The Importance of Being Earnest | March 6-8. Oscar Wilde's classic is a delight from the first cucumber sandwich on as Jack's double life catches up with him. The problems are resolved in an extremely charming and quite unexpected way as Jack and Algernon discover the importance of being earnest while answering to the name of Ernest.
The Last Five Years | April 17-26. Jason Robert Brown's Drama Desk winner, The Last Five Years, is an emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years, the show's unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show.
Reefer Madness | June 19-28. Inspired by the original 1936 film of the same name, this raucous musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut kids fall prey to marijuana, leading them on a hysterical downward spiral filled with evil jazz music, sex and violence.
Six: The Musical TEEN EDITION | July 31 to August 9. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the mic to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st-century girl power! This is a full-length adaptation of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ international phenomenon SIX, modified for performance by teen actors for family audiences.
A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS | October 15-18. Adapted from the three-time-Tony-nominated Broadway hit comes A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS. Based on Arnold Lobel's well-loved books, the jazzy, upbeat score bubbles with melody. Part vaudeville, part make-believe, and all charm, A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS tells the story of a friendship that endures throughout the seasons. This whimsical show follows two great friends – the cheerful, popular Frog, and the rather grumpy Toad – through four fun-filled seasons. Waking from hibernation, Frog and Toad plant gardens, swim, rake leaves, go sledding and learn life lessons along the way. Throughout the year, two best friends celebrate and rejoice in the differences that make them unique and special.
The Pillowman | November 13-15. With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders. The result is an urgent work of theatrical bravura and an unflinching examination of the very nature and purpose of art.
Cumberland Players began as the Little Theatre of Vineland in February 1946. In its inaugural season, the group presented a season of three one-act plays. The works were so well received by audiences that by October, The Little Theatre of Vineland was chartered with a dedicated membership of fourteen people. These founding members built the organization from the ground up, spending countless hours converting an old church house into the building (c. November 1953) that they have all come to know and love.
Their mission has remained the same since our inception: to encourage the public’s appreciation of theatre and to make accessible the study of its various aspects. Cumberland Players takes great pride in making theatre accessible to all members of the community they serve by having a successful Kids at CP program, and by always keeping ticket prices accessible for the Everyman.
As an organization of volunteers, they pride themselves on the ability to give back to those who give so graciously to them through scholarship opportunities for high school seniors in their area.
