Making some headway in downsizing her house recently, local resident Carol Zogas came across a 1950 Prince George Players program for their spring play Ghost Train.
Zogas recalled her mother Elsie Giles enjoying theatre but only if she could stay in the background and so Giles was the producer of Ghost Train, held at the Prince George high school auditorium April 13 to 15, 1950.
"Back then little kids weren't allowed to go watch plays like this," said Zogas, who was 11 years old at that time. "My mother was also with the Prince George Players when they put on Arsenic and Old Lace after Ghost Train and I remember my mother telling me I wouldn't like it because people were poisoned in that one."
Giles was a very creative person and painted in oil in her spare time, focusing on still life and the great outdoors. Zogas also remembers her mother taking an interior decorating course through the mail.
"My mother could put a few scraps together and make something beautiful," said Zogas.
Within the play's program was a history of the Prince George Players that said the group started in the fall of 1946, which was spurred into action when a group of seven produced Miss Marlowe, a one-act play under the direction of Bernice Knight the year before. When the group decided to become the Prince George Players in 1946, Cleo Bryant was the first president.
Over several years, the group raised funds for special projects around Prince George including making donations to the hospital and to the Civic Centre for a new stage. The group was active in the community, reportedly putting on 10 plays between 1946 and 1950.
The page-long history concluded by saying "All in all we are a busy group, and we hope, an asset to the community. If we are able to fulfill a need, give you some pleasure and at the same time help some worthy project in the community, we will feel we have attained our goal."
Exploring the newspaper's online archives confirms the P.G. Players were so active they got national attention in February 1951 as Saturday Night magazine showed great interest in the group's history and asked to have a photo sent of the current cast of the production called Angel Street. All correspondence was done by mail from Prince George to Toronto.
In May 1957, the PG Players were part of the Prince George Drama Festival and the adjudicator said they reached 'high artistic achievement' during their play Mary, Mary.
In November 1960 the Players put on a children's show, The Three Bears, and offered A Christmas Play as part of an exchange with Williams Lake for their production of A Murder Has Been Arranged where each visited the other's city to put on their play.
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