While the group started in the Britannia neighbourhood, membership and audience are now drawn from communities reaching to Orleans, Smith's Falls, and Braeside beyond Arnprior. From its inception, the group has liaised with the City of Ottawa regarding the use of RKLC; the Capital City Chorus with whom it shares rehearsal and storage space; the NAC and many community theatres to acquire props, lights, set pieces, and costumes; and various local retailers to obtain donations of cash, materials, and services. The group brings theatre arts to various City and Community events.

Starting in the 1991/92 season, The Lakeside Players performed Aladdin - A Traditional British Pantomime and have continued this, now a Lakeside Players tradition, with  more than 22 successful productions. Each show includes approximately 25 children dancing and singing, and 10 - 15 youth and adults in the cast and five band members. Audiences look forward to BOOing the Bad Guys and CHEERing the Good Guys, and joining in the many familiar songs that are included.

In 1993, the group produced its first Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre as a fundraiser, and now have 10 mysteries. Murder Mysteries are a valuable source of revenue. Like the vast majority of community theatre groups, The Lakeside Players operate on a budget of shoestring proportions and a very small shoestring at that.

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Membership is open to anyone and we have approximately 120 active members - Junior and Adult.

 

 

 

In each theatre season since its founding, The Lakeside Players has mounted 2 or 3 full-length productions; these have included an evening of one-act plays, dramas, comedy and farce, and traditional British pantomimes. Many productions incorporate musical elements and dance. The group also tries to include one work by a Canadian author or with a Canadian theme in each season. It has performed at the Manotick Fringe Festival. The company has also entered the Eastern Ontario Drama League annual full-length and one-act play festivals, winning awards for acting, directing, and set design.

 

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The Lakeside Players is a non-profit community theatre group formed in January of 1990 in the Britannia neighborhood, and based at Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre (formerly Lakeside Gardens) in Britannia Park, West-end Ottawa. The spring of 1990 heralded its first production, a two-hour variety show that included musical and comedy acts, and two dramatic scenes from full-length plays. 

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