Waterford Players to present 'Love Through the Ages'

The Waterford Players will present their latest show titled "Love Through the Ages" Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Dennison Village Building at 302 Grant St.. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

The show will have something for everyone with diverse musical selections. Sarah Fouts will provide piano accompaniment for the show.

“We're working on a show that's primarily vocal music, but there will be a bit of dancing and a couple poems involved,” Laura Gray, director of the show, said. “It focuses on primarily romantic love. There are a few pieces that explore other types of love, but most of them are focused on romantic love. And musically, we have everything from Broadway and music theater to country to jazz and torch songs to opera and pop.”

It’s the first time the Waterford Players are presenting a Valentine’s Day show.

“The first thing we did was in March 2024, and we focused on a Celtic St. Patrick's Day celebration called Green Music. And then we did a Broadway event in November 2024 and then we did a play in the spring 2025 and then November of last year we did a Disney themed show,” Gray said. “We just try and keep it diverse, to attract a wide variety of people and a wide variety of skills. (Love Through the Ages) just seemed to fill the need and give us all something to do in the doldrums of winter.”

The performers include Bruce “Alex” Alexander, Shana Angel, Kaisyn Amore, Bart Cannizzaro, Clare Cannizzaro, Saff Cannizzaro, Simon Cannizzaro, Alice Gray, Lily Gray, Dawn Furniss, Grace Furniss, Jacob Heaton, Lily Johnson, Tabitha Johnson, Jonathan Jurado, Zane Kuczirka, Page Maffe, Afton Marlatt, Kelsey Moore, John Oliver, Mariah Sanner, Cory Spinell, Stella Tompkins, Lanie Wenger and Faith West.

A group song with all the performers will close the show.

The performers are all volunteers. The group typically holds auditions for their shows.

“I say auditions, but we really don't turn anybody away. It's more just so I know where their skill level is more than anything else so we can pick the right songs and work with them to improve their skills,” Gray said.

So far, there has not been a shortage of volunteers to perform in Waterford Players shows.

“We have some regular people that have been with us from the very beginning, and new people keep coming out of the woodwork, because they'll bring friends and relatives,” Gray said. “It just keeps growing and I was shocked with this one. I was expecting 15 people maybe, which is about what we had for the Disney show. But we have 26 so it will be quite a sizable cast.”

For their June project, the Waterford Players have licensed the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Gray hopes that "Love Through the Ages" will be the perfect springboard for some of the entertainers to come back for the musical. The musical will also have live musicians in addition to the actors and vocalists.

Dennison Mayor Greg DiDonato is working on a contract to get a new stage in the community room on the third floor of the village office building that the group hopes is in place for “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

“The village has been amazing with their support,” Gray said. (DiDonato) got us a sound system back in November. We used it for the Disney show, and we'll use it again. It's a great sound system.”

The Waterford Players will again have their summer Children’s Performing Arts Camp for ages 8-18.

“We had classes on improvisation, acting, character development. We had stage combat, costume design, music, and choreography. We tried to cram as much in there as we could,” Gray said.

The group will also sing in April at the 250 Buckeye Train & Transportation Celebration at the Dennison Depot Railroad Museum.

"Love Through the Ages" tickets are available online at Zeffy.com. General admission is $15 and 100 seats are available, after those are gone, standing room only tickets will be sold. An elevator is not available but for those who can walk short distances a seated chair lift is available to avoid the stairs.

The Waterford Players are a 501c3 organization and donations are accepted as licensing fees or royalties for music and plays can get expensive. They also need funds for costumes and sets.

For more information and a link to buy tickets visit the Waterford Players Facebook page.