Hello, We’re the Friendly city players!

Who we are

We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing quality community theater experiences for Harrisonburg and the surrounding areas.

Our Mission

We believe that it takes a community to make great theatre, and making great theatre builds community.

The Friendly City Players community is made up of artists from all levels of experience who want to tell compelling stories, explore new ideas, develop skills, learn from one another, and seek joy. We believe that live theatre is celebratory by nature, and we approach our work with a sense of play.

Our mission is to create space and opportunity for theatre makers and theatre lovers throughout the Shenandoah Valley to come together in pursuit of artistic expression and collaboration, and to make every FCP production an enriching experience for our artists and our audiences alike.

Come play with us!

Our History

Harrisonburg’s Community Theater was founded in 1966 by a group of James Madison University faculty members from the departments of Theater and Speech Communication. They were known as the Valley Players. Plays were performed in different venues until the mid-1990s when the group renovated a building at 111 East Water Street.  From 1997-2005, the Playhouse performed four/five shows per year in this space, with a volunteer staff, board members, and community patrons. The Playhouse has also been a regular feature of Harrisonburg First Night and Harrisonburg Court Days. In 2005, the Valley Playhouse transferred its office to the Virginia Bank building and began using Court Square Theater as its main performance space. Valley Playhouse continued to be an all-volunteer organization open to the entire local and regional community.

After a period of changes surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and an influx of new board members, Valley Playhouse felt the need to adjust their name, mission, and branding to reflect the changes they were experiencing internally. On May 19th, 2023, the Friendly City Players launched their new brand identity.

Let’s meet the fcp board!

These passionate and hardworking individuals make up the Friendly City Players Board! Let’s take a moment and meet them…


  • Board Member

    Kyle is excited to be joining the board of Valley Playhouse. Kyle has been a part of the community theater scene since high school. He has worked with Oak Grove, ShenanArts and Valley Playhouse. He Directs, Music Directs and Stage Manages. In the fall he teaches the youth theater workshop with Blue Ridge Community College. His recent work has been:

    Oliver(Assistant Director), Arsenic and Old Lace (Director), Cinderella (Director/Music Director) and The Sound of Music (Music Director). When he isn’t working on a show you can usually catch him at The Salvation Army working as the Social Worker or on Monday night programs as the music teacher.

  • Aside from the electronics tinkering and working on his car, Mark spends many hours on stage and on ladders involved in theater productions in the area. He’s performed roles in the Valley Playhouse’s productions of The Fantastiks, and Little Shop of Horrors, Annie, and EMU’s Great Comet. On the technical side, he’s designed lights for, among others, Steel Magnolias, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Annie, plus sound design for Peter Pan, and Diary of Anne Frank.

    Mark administers FCP’s email and digital storage systems. By day, Mark is a humble IT Help Desk Administrator.

  • J.P. Gulla, Board Member, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater (Acting/Directing) from DeSales University. He also holds Master’s Degrees in Acting/Fine Arts and Business Administration from The Catholic University of America.  A former member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA),  Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Gulla has acted, directed, and taught locally, nationally and internationally.  Locally, he has served on the Arts Council of The Valley Board of Directors and in several Board positions for The Valley Playhouse.  Gulla currently sits on The Shenandoah Valley Pride Alliance Board and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County PFLAG Board.   He was a founding member/theatre manager for The Maryland Shakespeare Festival, The Festival of Religious Arts in Washington DC, and Inside Out Modeling and Talent in Columbia Md.  From 2022-2024 Gulla ran The Court Square Theater as Managing Director, opening it up post pandemic. Gulla currently runs The Act One Theater Company, Inc., along with an amazing team of educators/artists.  With ACT ONE he has co-directed such pieces as The Lion King Jr., Shrek, Jr., and Willy Wonka Jr. and produced Steel Magnolias.    

  • Kate has been an actor and singer her entire life. Recently relocating from Portland, Oregon, where she performed professionally for many years, Kate has become very active in the Valley’s theater arts and music scene. Performing with ShenanArts and the Friendly City Players, as well as fronting a local rock band, she’s excited to work with the Valley’s talented artists, and she’s thrilled to be on the Board of the Friendly City Players. Here’s to much success and excitement ahead for FCP!

Interested in joining our Board? We are always looking for new members! Send us an email at hello@friendlycityplayers.com and we’ll be in touch!