Independent Players

08/06/2025

We’re married 20 years today. Years of love with the lady. Sunshine and gentle breezes for everyone…

01/02/2025

Thought provoking stuff.

10/23/2024

Very entertaining

09/30/2024

A Body of Water opened this past weekend in Elgin. Our fine cast of three delivered in spades. Come support live theatre at the Elgin Arts Showcase Fri or Sat at 7:30, Sun at 2:00. You won’t be disappointed.

09/20/2024

Come help us out. We’ll discuss compensation

Interested in stage management? Our friends at the Independent Players are in need of a Stage Manager for their upcoming production, “Body of Water,” set to perform September 27-October 6. Interested parties may reach out to Larry Boller for more information.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 630.248.0394

09/20/2024

Come join us tomorrow night

🔗 The truth is in the details...but who will see it? 🔗

SNEAK PEEK: Read the director's note for TRIFLES: A MURDER MYSTERY by Pulitzer-winning playwright Susan Glaspell (1876-1948).

In a farmhouse shrouded in mystery, a strangled farmer and his wife become the center of an investigation. While the men search for evidence, it’s the women who unravel the true story.

🎶 Don’t miss the immersive pre-show experience with a 4-piece folk band performing original music and songs from Dolly Parton, The Crane Wives, Leadbelly, Paul McCartney, and more.

📅 Dates to Remember:
September 20-22
September 27-29

🎟️ Reserve your seats now: https://steelbeamtheatre.thundertix.com/events/231305

09/20/2024

🔎 A strangled farmer. A witness, a sheriff, and an attorney. And the only ones who know what really happened: their wives. 🔎

Steel Beam Theatre proudly presents TRIFLES: A MURDER MYSTERY by Susan Glaspell.

Susan was a trailblazer whose brilliance was often overshadowed by the limitations placed on women in her time. Her early life was marked by accomplishments that were extraordinary for a woman of her era. She earned a degree from Drake University against the advice that it would make her "unmarriageable,” and quickly distinguished herself as an intrepid journalist. By her early twenties, Glaspell was reporting on politics and murder trials—a bold and unconventional path for a woman in the early 1900s.

Glaspell’s brilliance shines through her work, which includes nine novels, fifteen plays, over fifty short stories, and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A co-founder of the Provincetown Players, the theatre company that discovered Eugene O’Neill, Glaspell played an instrumental role in shaping modern American drama. Her play Trifles (1916) is a masterclass in suspense and subtle commentary, often hailed as one of the greatest feminist plays ever written. Today, it is one of the most-anthologized pieces of American literature.

Despite her achievements, Glaspell's work was underappreciated in her lifetime. It would not be until the 1970s that many of her works would be republished under her own name, rather than her husband’s. Often cited as a prime example of an overlooked female writer deserving canonization, Glaspell has been called “the Mother of American Drama.” Her stories continue to resonate, reminding us of the complexities of justice and the power of words to challenge societal norms.

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🎶 Enjoy our immersive pre-show with live folk music featuring Dolly Parton, The Crane Wives, Leadbelly, Paul McCartney, and more.

📅 Join us:

September 20-22
September 27-29

🎟️ Tickets: https://steelbeamtheatre.thundertix.com/events/231305