Theatre for All
Formerly St. Michael’s Actor’s Guild (SMAG), here is a little history of our wonderful and talented group of actors and theatre technicians known as the Mission Avenue Players!
SMAG began as an idea. Two theatre professionals, Susan Schindler, actress and director, and Sarah Christiansen, actress, wanted to offer a loving and supportive theatre experience for actors in the Sacramento area.
Our first performance, held in the Chancel of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on January 6, 1978, was a Chancel Drama: Christmas Spirits – a Masque. 35 years later Mission Avenue Players produced The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, once again in the Chancel of St. Michaels. Both the first and the most recent included children – the future of theatre.
In the past 37 years we have presented 55 productions in our theatre: Chancel Dramas, Readers Theatre, Comedies, a Drama or two, and five marvelous Musical Reviews. We believe we are the second oldest Theatre Company in the area. Chautauqua Playhouse is the oldest by a few months. Several of our members are still with us from that first production (of course they were very young at the time!)
Over the years we have had wonderful talent from the Sacramento area in both performance and production. To date Mission Avenue Players has received two Elly awards (Lighting and Best Supporting Actress) and four Nominations in various categories. We hope you will enjoy auditioning for us, working with us on stage or behind the scenes, attending a performance and becoming a part of our “merry band of players.”
