For Chelmsford (MA) resident John J. Goodwill, however, the summer of 1967 felt more like the winter of discontent. Goodwill had just completed his term as President of the Chelmsford Players, which at that time was the oldest, biggest, and most well known community theatre organization in the Greater-Lowell and Merrimack Valley area. It would be difficult to find a person who had a stronger passion for community theatre than John Goodwill. He was heavily involved in every production, directing, acting, producing, building sets, chasing props, and button-holing people to buy tickets for the upcoming show. With his tenure as president behind him, John took a long, hard look at the organization. The Chelmsford Players were then 33 years old. They had board members, officers, and ex-officios. They had standing committees, ad hoc committees, sub-committees, by-laws, rules, regulations, customs, standard operating procedures, and traditions. Their productions were mounted in the local high school auditorium, which of course meant wrangling with town politics and phlegmatic custodians. The Chelmsford Players were so heavily weighed down by elements which had nothing to do with producing plays that it was a wonder any performance actually went on in front of a paying audience.

After due and careful consideration, Goodwill concluded that there had to be a better way to produce community theatre productions. His love of the art, his personal magnetism, and his boundless energy would not settle for anything less. He sat down with his wife, Helen, and four other couples - all movers and shakers in the Chelmsford Players. The others shared Goodwill's feelings of dissatisfaction and frustration. The issues on the table were now what to do about these feelings, and how to do it?

At that same time in Lowell, a popular and successful restaurant known as The Speare House operated on the banks of the Merrimack River. The Speare House was decored in a King Arthur and the Round Table motif. A stone exterior was topped by crenelated turrets and colorful, banners. The dimly lit interior bristled with swords, shields, battle-axes and full suits of armor. In the rear of the establishment, beyond the main dining room and lounge, there were three spacious function rooms. The knowledge of these, combined with the immediate needs of a still-embryonic theatre group, made the lights turn on and fine wheels begin to move inside Goodwill's head. He approached the Speare House management with an idea which was then virtually unheard of and unknown - Dinner Theatre. For one all-inclusive price, audience members could enjoy a sumptuous dinner with a couple of drinks, and then, without having to leave their chairs, they could turn their attention toward the raised stage at the front of the hall, and enjoy a fine evening's entertainment. The restaurant would profit, the theatre group would begin to build a treasury, the audience would have a good time, and everyone would be happy. Not surprisingly, this deal sold itself?

Five founding couples anted up $100 each as seed money for the first production at The Speare House, but the new group was still without a name. There were Lancelot and King Arthur Lounges, but those names didn't seem to cut it. Since the actual performances were to be held in the Camelot Lounge, that name was a natural. So, in the Autumn of 1967, the Camelot Players of Greater-Lowell were born - alive, kicking and making noise.

The first production, Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, was a huge success. Others soon followed. Because of the nature of the venue, comedies were clearly the best draw. Production after production, John Goodwill carefully and judiciously increased the size of the group by personally inviting select individuals who could make a valuable contribution. Productions were low-budget, with minimal sets and technical requirements. The directors were in total control of their show - no committees, no by-laws, no baggage such as that which plagued the Chelmsford Players. The size of the group increased, as did its treasury, and, best, of all its popularity. The steady diet of light comedies was now and then spiced up with off-beat offerings such as Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Momma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad, and The Subject was Roses. The occasional big-cast extravaganzas included Auntie Mame and Inherit the Wind.

In the group's early years, times were turbulent, testy and sometimes terrifying...

Spring, 1972: The Camelot Players were upstaged by national politics. In the middle of production week - at the last minute - a rehearsal of Plaza Suite was pre-empted by a gala fundraiser for the Republican Party, and the featured guest of honor was, of all people, Vice-President, Spiro T. Agnew.

February, 1975: For the production Inherit the Wind, based on the famous 1929 "Monkey Trial," each performance required a "jury." Director, John C. Goodwill (son of founding father John J.) decided to recruit volunteers from the audience. As luck would have it, on opening night, one of the jurors had consumed five or six too many whiskey sours. At the end of Act II, when the character of Matthew Harrison Brady (played by John J. Goodwill) breaks down and cries in frustration, the pickled Juror friend rose from his seat, weaved his way to center stage and consoled the unsuspecting John Goodwill in a voice right out of central casting... "Hey, pal everything's gonna be awright. Burp." Backstage, about 20 pairs of eyes rolled skyward.

Fall, 1975: The relationship between the Players and the restaurateurs had run up on the rocks. So, the Camelot Players left the Speare House for parts unknown. This was the start of a "gypsy" period during which Camelot performed at various restaurants, lounges, country clubs and other venues. For every production, flats, set pieces, furniture and props were packed into the back of a pick-up truck and hauled to the place of performance. There seemed to be no end to the caravan.

May, 1977: Camelot's New England Theatre Conference Festival production of Clevinger's Trial was performed for the inmates at the Middlesex County House of Corrections. (Please note, no mention was made of a "captive audience"). A dummy prop rifle was not allowed inside the prison, so a 3-foot length of 2-by-4 was used instead.

January 1981: A production of Norman, is That You? was mounted at the Hanscom Air Force Base officer's Club on a Friday night, to be followed by a performance at the NCO Club on Saturday night. The strike, load-out, move, load-in, and set-up were all accompanied by a knife-sharp wind chill that seemed to have been launched from somewhere outside Whitehorse, Yukon Territories. Then the "stage" in the Club turned out to be an 8-foot wide band platform with a tigerskin-print carpet. The show went on, as always it must.

May, 1981: The 1981 Festival entry, Schubert's Last Serenade, was invited to perform at the Town Hall in Newmarket (NH) for the local Rotary Club.

May, 1982: The 1982 NETC Festival entry, Any Body For Tea? was performed in a roped-off section of corridor at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lowell. An audience consisting of housekeeper and nurse's aides sat on folding chairs.

November, 1982: Star-Spangled Girl was performed before an audience of five people at the Mt. Pleasant Golf Club in Lowell. The following week, the entire production was trucked down to and performed at an elementary school cafetorium in Salisbury.

1984: Two year later, Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem was set up and performed in the Frolics Ballroom at Salisbury Beach. The surf was breaking outside the window, the strippers were on the runway at the joint across the street, and the stage was full of posts.

In virtually every of the above noted instances, the Camelot Players' first look at their performance hall and stage was when they walked in with the first load of scenery. For a few years though, in the early '80's, Camelot had a semi-stable performance venue at the H.E. Fletcher Social and Athletic Club in Nabnasset. The hall was both decent and functional, but unfortunately, it was immediately adjacent to the club members' private bar, which was loud and raucous. "Social" meant "getting drunk" and "Athletic" meant "getting into brawls." It became all too apparent that the Fletcher Club did not offer Camelot any solution.

In the face of all of their home/theatre instability, the Camelot Players still became semi-regular participants in the annual NETC/EMACT Community Theatre Festival, which is held annually at Brandeis University's Spingold Theater. Between their first appearance in 1972 and the present, the Camelot Players have made 16 appearances there, and have, on the whole, acquitted themselves quite respectably. Their entries of Clevinger's Trial ('77), Schubert's Last Serenade ('81), and Absurd Person Singular-Act II ('87) were selected for the Finals. Current President Kevin Dumont has won the Stage Manager's Award four times, the only one in Festival history to do so. Set designs by member Jack Dacey have been so honored on three occasions. Group members George and Barbara Parkhurst have won the Best Make-up Design Award twice, and Patricia Frost has one win for Best Costume Design. Camelot's entries have also earned numerous additional nominations in many categories, as well as a Best Supporting Actor award for member Gordon Janes in Clevinger's Trial.

In 1981, the, Camelot Players honored the memory of their beloved founding father and first president, who had recently succumbed to cancer. And so it was that the John J. Goodwill Memorial Director's Award was established in honor of John's high regard and enthusiasm for the Festival, in which he had participated many times, as well as for his lifetime participation in, commitment to, and love for community theatre. At every Festival's closing Awards ceremony, any Camelot members in attendance still feel pride at the mention of his name.

Following Camelot's ill-fated and mercifully short tenure at the Fletcher club, the Players were once again among the ranks of the homeless. The future was looking bleak. Then, 21 years after the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the stars fell into alignment. A long-dreamed-of good fortune fell into their outstretched hands. Long-time Camelot member Gloria Callahan, a resident of Tyngsboro, paid a visit to her friend Barbara Spindell, who lived in a big, rambling old farmhouse that overlooked the the grounds of her family's business, the Tyngsboro Country Club. It happened that, on a far corner of the country club's land, there stood a picturesque, rustic lodge building dating back to the 1920s. It was set in the midst of a bucolic grove of pine trees adjacent to the Country Club's outing grounds. Mrs. Spindell's family had owned this property for decades. <SIDE NOTE: Mrs. Spindell was the surviving sister of motion picture actor Walter Brennan, a fixture of countless Hollywood westerns and television series.>

Callahan inquired if the aforementioned lodge might possibly be made available to a small but friendly troupe of local amateur theatre folks to stage their plays. As luck would have it, Mrs. Spindell was amenable, the lodge building was indeed so available, and a handshake agreement was struck.

A short but furious period of construction and modification soon followed, and, on the first weekend of December, 1988, the Camelot players staged their first-ever production at their current home, the Tyngsboro Country Club Lodge. It was a daffy comedy called Cooking with Gus, directed by Callahan.

Since then, the "Lodge" has proven to be the Players' best, most stable and most popular performance venue. The building is not winterized, and heating it for the fall productions is difficult and problematic. But, over and above that, audiences have fallen in love with the place, its setting, and the rustic ambience of its exposed wooden beams and huge fieldstone fireplace. The legacy of the Camelot Players' early dinner theatre days still endures, as the plays are performed before cabaret seating at round tables, complete with a munchies-laden hospitality table and an intimate, knotty-pine bar.

With a few lapses, the Players have mounted a production every May and every October. Comedies are still popular, but they are by no means exclusive. Productions on the Lodge stage have included Neil Simon's Rumors, Fools, and The Sunshine Boys;" David Mamet's The Water Engine; and A.R. Gurney's Love Letters; as well as productions of Frankenstein; Count Dracula; Waltz of the Toreadors; Laughter on the 23rd Floor; Habeas Corpus; Living Together; The Lion in Winter, and many more. In October 1992, the Players celebrated 25 years of operation with an anniversary reprise performance of Barefoot in the Park.

Now, at the ripe old age of 35, the Camelot Players of Greater-Lowell are older than the Chelmsford Players were when Camelot was born. Still true to the name "Camelot," the Players still, strive to provide their audiences with a "shining moment" of entertainment and pleasure. Still true to the benevolent temperament of their beloved founder, the Camelot Players are not given to an aggressive nature or vindictive political back-biting. They are completely free of boards, committees, by-laws and politics. Indeed, the group has only known four presidents in its history: John Goodwill, '67-'77; Jack Dacey, '77-'78; Harold Sullivan, '79-'82; and Kevin Dumont, '82 to present.

The ownership of the Lodge and the Tyngsboro Country Club has passed down to Mrs. Spindell's daughter, Tammy Garau, who runs the operation with her husband Glenn. The handshake agreement is still honored, and the arrangement is still friendly and mutually beneficial. Various improvements and upgrades to the Lodge are currently in the planning and feasibility-discussion stages.

One such upgrade is the generation of a new interactive Camelot Players website, currently hosted at www.jacneed.com/CAMELOT/Home.htm.   On the site (still under construction and in search of a permanent domain), you can find information on the Players’ history, its members and upcoming plans, such as productions under consideration and other events. There are photos and programs to bring back memories of days gone by.

Perhaps the best feature of the new site is an online ticket reservation capability that will become completely active with the next production.