Circle Players, Inc.

Circle Players, Inc. began in 1949, when an ambitious group of volunteer actors, directors, producers, designers, and stage hands founded the company on a stock-ownership basis. The leadership decided Circle Players, Inc. would best operate as a state-charted 501-c-3, nonprofit arts organization in the mid-1950s. This completely volunteer-staffed organization, which includes Artist Members and the Board of Directors, operated for 26 years in the basement of what is now the Bluebird Cafe on Hillsboro Road. In 1980, Circle Players, Inc. became the first resident company in the brand-new Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC), and presented productions in TPAC’s Johnson Theatre through 2004.