“The Players Club represents the only history of the American Theatre that exists. ‘And the important artists who have belonged to the Club!   If there were a way we could get out this story . . . that would be truly enticing. I’d like to be part of it,” says Elliot Martin, President of the Players Foundation.

 Mr. Martin is widely known as a prolific, award-winning producer. His first Broadway production as Associate Producer with The Theatre Guild was “Seidman and Son” with Vincent Gardenia in 1962. He then produced “Never Too Late” with Paul Ford and Maureen O’Sullivan which ran for three years. His most recent production (over 40 Broadway shows and 10 Tony Awards later!) was the 2008 revival of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” with John Leguizamo, a play he had previously produced in 1983 starring Al Pacino.

 

“I had been coming down here for years to play pool. When I was stage managing ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ with Jason Robards, Jason would come down to play pool with us, and sometimes he wouldn’t go home at all. He’d be sleeping under the pool table or in the bed upstairs. I’d look for him first down here.

 

“Charles Knox Robinson brought me in . . . a wonderful playwright. He had written a number of radio and television shows—television was really starting to move.   He was always sitting at this table. We’d come down and meet him and he said, ‘You could join this club.’ I thought, this is wonderful. At this stage of the game I get to join The Players. It was terrific. Ever since I have enjoyed every moment down here.”

 

The legendary Elliot Martin has presented numerous Players Foundation events including In Conversation with Christopher Plummer, a tribute to translator Robert Fagles, Eli Wallach in a reading of “Visiting Mr. Green,” a commemoration of Elia Kazan, a reception in honor of The Women’s Project, and The Players Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. Ever the visionary, Mr. Martin plans to continue to create many more of these exciting programs.

 

You will find Elliot Martin at these events, in the background, having generously drawn on his own experience and remarkable talent to illuminate the history of the American Theatre, intertwined inseparably with stories of The Players.

♦By Stephen Phebus