June 24, 2025

By Jack Sheedy

Photo Courtesy of Michael Accuosti

A news brief in the Torrington Register on May 17, 1949, announced, “A dramatic cantata, ‘Trial by Jury,’ by Gilbert and Sullivan, will be presented at the Goshen Town Hall Friday, May 27 and 28.”

That was the birth of the Goshen Players. More than 75 years later, it is the oldest continuously operating community theater in Litchfield County and second oldest in Connecticut, says Michael Accuosti, treasurer. The Simsbury Light Opera Company, founded in Hartford County in 1946, is Connecticut’s oldest, he says.

The all-volunteer company now owns Goshen’s Old Town Hall, and has produced more than 100 shows there, says Joseph Guttadauro, president. A recent production, A Goodnight Kiss by Cinzi Lavin, is a dramatization of a Civil War love story involving a Goshen couple.

Members of the Babbitt family, today represented by Lydia Babbitt, house manager, have served for seven decades.

In 1957, future A Wrinkle in Time author Madeleine L’Engle debuted her play Come to the Ball there, Guttadauro says. A Goshen resident, L’Engle, who died in 2007, also trod the boards with the Goshen Players. Her daughter, Josephine Jones, was box office manager.

“We definitely honor our past, but our goal is to stay current,” Guttadauro says, adding that the Goshen Players attracts talent and audiences from the Tri-state area. “My key to the future is involving younger people.” —goshenplayers.org