Throughout 2024, Visit Lebanon Valley is celebrating the Year of the Arts by highlighting organizations that bring essential arts and creativity to our community.
“Anyone can be a part of art, no matter what.”
Karen Dundore-Gullotta
PROLOGUE
THE PRESENT. LEBANON VALLEY MALL. DAY.
[VISIT LEBANON VALLEY STAFF walks into the foyer]
When you enter the theater of St. James Players, you will be greeted by a spectacular chandelier that hangs from the high beams of the mall’s ceiling. No more than a few steps inside the theater, the light fixture catches the eye, begging to tell a story.
Ask Karen Dundore-Gulotta, the theater’s director, and she’ll tell you the chandelier’s origins—how she found it on Facebook Marketplace, picked it up in Rochester, New York, took it apart, carefully brought it home to the theater, and then I put it together straight away.
It’s just one part of the theater, but the chandelier seems to represent more than a trip down I-390. Instead, it feels like it represents the way Dundore-Gulotta brought light to something—taking that once-forgotten chandelier and breathing new life into it as the centerpiece of the theater’s front room—much like she has done for so many people everywhere. her life.
From the light fixture in the lobby to every student who walks through the theater doors, there is a story to be told at St. James Players, which goes far beyond the curtain call of any performance. And this story begins in a local elementary school in 1976.
SCENE I
THE END OF THE 70’S. ELKO SECONDARY SCHOOL. NIGHT.
[10-year-old KAREN enters nervously]
It was 1976 when a young Karen Dundore-Gulotta first stepped on stage in a theater production.
She was not part of a theater company and was still in elementary school, but with encouragement from her music teacher, Karen auditioned for a role in the high school play. Despite her nerves, she secured the lead role for the children, and at the premiere, when the curtain rose, she realized, “I’m going to be doing this for the rest of my life.”
Throughout high school and college, Karen continued to perform in shows. It wasn’t until the birth of her children that she took a break from the theatre, but it wasn’t for long, and Karen admits she kept her foot in the door, making costumes and traveling to see shows while she had the chance. Then, at the age of five, her son showed an interest in theater, and soon the whole family returned to the world of theater.
While continuing to raise her children, guiding them through their own experiences in acting and performing, Karen also worked as a full-time teacher. Due to the busyness of it all, her thoughts of opening her own theater were put on the back burner. But these thoughts were simmering and though she didn’t know exactly how it will work, keep dreaming Karen.
SCENE II
SUMMER 2018. OCRACOKE BEACH. DAY.
[KAREN sits on the beach, a red notebook in hand]
In 2018, while on vacation off the coast of North Carolina in a small coastal town called Ocracoke, Karen began turning her dream of theater into a plan. She worked at school during the day and directed the town’s summer productions in the evening, but in the late afternoon she sat on the beach with a red notebook in her hands. “I was sitting there and I had just started thinking about how I was going to do this—how much money I needed, what my first show was going to be—I just mapped it all out.” And even though she still didn’t know how any of them would have worked, and even now she looks back and says, “It was kind of stupid to even think about it,” in that red notebook Karen let her dreams take shape.
When she returned to Pennsylvania this fall to return to work, Karen hosted a yard sale where she talked with a neighbor about a nearby church. “I didn’t even tell her that I had this plan to open a theater, but she was talking about this part of the church that they don’t use anymore,” Karen recalled. “I’m like, ‘this has to happen.’ She tells me this, but she has no idea that I have this plan.
Karen listened as her neighbor told her about the flood that had happened at the church and the work that would be needed to fix it. She later visited the church and saw the damage firsthand, but knew it wasn’t something she couldn’t handle. Soon, Karen provided $1,200 out of her own pocket, and with a small crew to help, she began the process of cleaning, painting, and preparing the theater for its first show.
SCENE III
LATE 2018. THE ORIGINAL ST JAMES PLAYERS THEATRE. NIGHT.
[the crowd fills the theatre; a shoebox sits stage left]
On the opening night of their first show, the stage wasn’t exactly in St. James Players. Karen was able to assemble a cast and crew by calling on children and adults she had worked with in the theater community. She even bought the show rights with her own money and was passionate about what she chose. But many around her thought that the show she had chosen was too sad and that it would not sell.
“So I’m opening the theater with a show that I was told by two organizations wouldn’t sell in a building that was flooded with $1,200 dollars, no lights, no sound system … we had nothing,” Karen recalls.
But the players prevailed. With her ticket sales recorded in a notebook, Karen watched three screenings of Never See Another Butterfly sell out. She then called the show’s rights house and bought the rights for a fourth edition, and that sold out all too quickly.
With these first four performances, Karen’s investment in St. James Players doubled up. But instead of pocketing the profit, she returned half of the money back to the theater and donated the rest: “We gave the other $1,200 to habitat for humanity. We literally gave it away in a shoebox, I couldn’t give a check.”
From there, the St. James players continued to grow in many ways. In March 2019, they became a 501-C (3) non-profit organization. Then, in 2023, the company moved to its current location at Lebanon Valley Mall, where it doubled the space of the old church. But regardless of the changes and growth they’ve seen, the mission of St. James Players remains the same… and so does the name.
SCENE IV
THE END OF THE 70’S. LUTHERAN CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. DAY.
[12-year-old KAREN sits on a church pew, ROSALIE enters stage right]
Although they have since moved from their founding site to St. James Lutheran Church, and although they have no religious affiliation, the company still carries the name St James’s Players. At face value, it seems like a simple homage to their church background. But for Karen, the name means much more…
“As a child, I didn’t fit in anywhere. I loved the arts, but I went to a school where sports were really valued. At the time, I felt like an outcast, like no one appreciated what I liked. She remembers. “I grew up in St. James Lutheran Church and there was a lady there named Rosalie Keller-Brant. She was just this great lady who marched to her own drum. She was unlike anyone I’d ever met and I just really looked up to her.’
Looking back on her conversations with Rosalie, Karen still cherishes the things she shared with her, “She spoke to me saying ‘be yourself, it doesn’t matter who anyone else is. You don’t have to be like anyone else, just embrace who you are.’
So when it came time for Karen to choose a name for the theater, Rosalie was first: “I named it St. James Players because I appreciated what she did for me when I was a girl.”Although some had tried to convince Karen to change the name after they moved to the mall, she reverted back to what Rosalie had been. learned: “When we moved to the mall, a lot of people said this is your chance to change the name because a lot of people think you’re a church,” she says. “I thought long and hard about it and I came back to ‘do what you know is right for you.’ You know, good, bad or indifferent, I decided to keep it because my heart is in this place.
SCENE V
THE PRESENT. LEBANON VALLEY MALL. DAY.
[children are seated in a circle downstage; a lively discussion appears to be taking place]
Since moving to the mall in 2023, St. The James Players are firing on all cylinders. No matter the time of year, it seems like the show is always happening for the company, whether it’s a main stage performance, a summer camp, or even a quick flash mob in the center of the mall.
One of the offerings the theater presents are their Mainstage Shows. These shows require auditions and often involve children and adults who have previous experience in the theater world, although Karen admits she would prefer to take any performer who auditions, “We try to cast as many people as possible, but sometimes if it’s a kid who’s just starting out, I tell mom and dad “they just need a little more experience, sign them up for star academy.”
Serving as something of a “little league” for those looking to get into theater, Star Academy is another program within the St. James Players and one has a special place in Karen’s heart, “It’s a starting point to learn about the performing arts and learn about yourself,” she says, “It’s something I’m very proud of and I’m proud of the kids who record, I love watching them grow.”
Star Academy is completely free and runs on a first-come, first-served basis four times a year. It is open to children aged 7-14 and runs three evenings a week, culminating in a show at the end of week six. Through the Academy, Karen teaches the children dance, music, acting and singing, but also teaches them many life lessons and gives them a safe space to grow.
“Every day we have a snack and circle time where we enjoy our breakfast and many times we talk about things that kids need to talk about – feeling like you don’t fit in, who you can talk to if you’re struggling, how to help a friend who is struggling. We talk about things that kids want to talk about or maybe don’t always feel comfortable talking about.”
The players of St. James also run a summer camp that runs in tandem with Making a Difference of Lebanon. This two-week full-day camp is held similarly to Star Academy and also culminates with a show at the end of last week.
SCENE VI
THE PRESENT. KAREN’S OFFICE. DAY.
[KAREN is seated in her office, she read quietly from a script on her desk; STEVE appears upstage, a paintbrush in hand]
Today, both Karen and her partner Steve Smith have retired from their respective careers as a special education teacher and graphic designer. But look at their daily schedules and you’d never know it. Whether it’s Karen writing grants and making meals and snacks for the kids backstage or Steve designing the backstage and displays for each show, running the St. The James Players is more than a full-time job for the duo.
But when we’re asked about the theater, it’s not the long hours or the never-ending to-do list that comes up as a topic of conversation. For Karen and Steve, theater is never and never will be about them or what they do. In fact, none of them make any money from their work at St. James Players. Instead, their mission boils down to every child who walks through the doors of the theater.
“A lot of kids we get don’t fit in at other places, they’re told they’re different,” says Steve. “But when they come here, it’s just complete, total, unconditional acceptance. And you can tell the kids to feel it and embrace it.”
Ask Karen what her favorite part of running the theater is and the same rings true: “The kids. I just love kids. They see the world in such a different way than adults.”
So while their retirement may involve more theater than free time, for Karen it all comes back to the mentorship and acceptance she received from Rosalie all those years ago, and bringing that experience to every single person who attends the theater.
“I was born and raised in Lebanon County. I’ve moved many times…and moved back many times. And I just wanted to build something that this county didn’t have — something that I didn’t have as a kid.
Come see St. James Players in their next performance, James and the Giant Peach. Book your tickets here.
