Our History

WHO ARE WE? Hovey Players, Incorporated, is Waltham’s Community theater. We are a true community theater, using regional amateur talent both on our stage and behind the scenes. Since 1936, the Hovey Players have treated Waltham audiences to the broadest variety of live performance. Our past productions include: View From The Bridge, Mousetrap, South Pacific, Man of LaMancha,True West, Broadway Bound, Streetcar Named Desire, Guys and Dolls, The Nerd, Rope, Deathtrap, The Featured Attraction, Jake’s Women, I Hate Hamlet, Shadow Box, Franky and Johnnie, Come Back Little Sheba, and over 300 more to date. 

OUR HISTORY: In 1936 a group of local thespians calling themselves the "Dramatists" produced their first play, Are You Intruding.  They were invited by the Hovey Memorial Society (see below) to use the newly constructed Hovey Memorial Building as their performing location.  After the success of the Dramatists first effort, the Hovey Memorial Society invited the Dramatists to take up permanent residence at the hall.  And so the Hovey Players were born.

Less than 20 years later, the Hovey Memorial Society dissolved and the building was sold to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1507. We left our birthplace. Without a home, we performed in churches, schools, the Boys and Girls Club, and in small halls throughout the area. In the early 70s we constructed a theater in our rehearsal space at 9 Spring Street in Waltham.

In 1998 the IBEW sold the Hovey Memorial. The Hovey Players performed one last time at the building. It was a one night only performance, a review we called "Back To Our Roots".   Now the theater is forever "dark" as the building has been converted into a temple for SGI International. 

Man of Lamancha Abbott Theater 1995

OUR SPACE: In 1973 the Hovey Players constructed a performance space in the basement of the D'Angio Building at 9 Spring Street.  In 1983 this space was dedicated as the Abbott Memorial Theater in honor of a beloved member, the late Dr. Alden Q Abbott.  The Abbott is a little theater but that does not reflect the size of our heart nor our talent. 

All are welcome here --  please feel free to stop in anytime you see the light on.  We are sure to meet soon ... downstairs at the Abbott.

HAMBLIN HOVEY

The History of Hamblin Hovey
Hamblin Levi Hovey was born June 17, 1838. When six months old, his father died, and with his mother he went to East Ware, MA to live with her parents. He lived there with them until he was ten years old, when his mother married Mr. Emerson, and with her he removed to Gilmanton, N.H., where he lived until he was fifteen. He then went to live with his Uncle Daniel Gove Currier in Waltham, Mass., where he attended the high school. He became a clerk in his uncle's retail clothing store and subsequently with Bean & Clayton and later with H. W. Smith, Dock Square, in Boston.

He was a quiet boy with studious tastes and early became a member of the Everett Literary Society, which was composed of some of the best young men in the town, with whom he formed some close friendships which continued through life.

In 1861 he enlisted in Company M., of the First regiment of Massachusetts cavalry, and went with the regiment to Hilton Head, S.C. October 1867, when he returned to Waltham, and entered the office of J. W. Parmenter, coal, wood and brick dealer.

He married Harriet Adelaide, daughter of his employer Jonas Willis Parmenter and Harriet (Kingsbury) Parmenter June 3, 1868, in Waltham. He died suddenly, May 12, 1904.

In 1935, The Parmenter family commissioned several buildings two bore the name in honor of Hamblin Hovey. One was a 1300 seat auditorium christened the Hovey Memorial Building. The second was Hovey Hall a smaller dance hall. The third was the Parmenter nursing home. The nursing home still stands with the same name. Hovey Hall is long gone. The Hovey Memorial Building was sold to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1952 and sold again to SGI International (a Buddhist group) in 1998. The Hall consisted of a fully functional stage, a flat orchestra area which could accommodate 25 large round tables or 500 auditorium style seats. The orchestra was surrounded on three sides by a balcony seating an additional 750 or more seats. The orchestra was often used for performance and as an arena for boxing events.

The Hovey Memorial Society was a men's club which existed for only a short time. The building was erected mainly for their use. The Dramatists were invited to use the space for performance. In 1936 they performed their first play, Are You Intruding? After that production they changed the company's name to The Hovey Players.

Many productions took place at the Hovey Memorial between 1936 and 1952. Well used by both the players and other groups it was the only amateur space available of this size in the area.

When the IBEW took over the building they began to charge high fees to renters. That and the advent of the TV changed the economics of live performance. Eventually the building fell into great disrepair and was sold to SGI for only $400,000. SGI has since renovated the interior into a temple, walling off the balcony. The stage is forever dark.

from the Hovey Book and other sources - The Hovey Players would like to thank the Hovey family for their many contributions to this site.

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