The Santa Clara Players 2025-2026 season launches Oct. 24 with a comical whodunit—“The Crazy Quilt Club” by Texas native Pat Cook, a prolific and now retired playwright with 157 published plays—plus a few that didn’t make it.
“Can’t knock it out the park every time, you know,” said Cook.
In “The Crazy Quilt Club,” published in 1993, Cook’s female sleuth lives in a small, private residence for retired women who knit, crochet, do needlepoint, make crazy quilts, drink punch out of China cups and get murdered.
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“This show is what happens when you combine ‘Murder, She Wrote’ and ‘The Golden Girls’ and throw in a little of Netflix’s ‘The Residence,’” said show director Allie Bailey, a Campbell resident who has directed 17 productions since 2017, including “Four Old Broads” with the Santa Clara Players in 2023.
“The Crazy Quilt Club” is the fourth SC Players show by Cook, who was, in fact, inspired by “Murder, She Wrote,” which aired 1984-1996.
“I wrote ‘The Crazy Quilt Club’ because of the popularity of ‘Murder, She Wrote,’” said Cook. “Also, the publisher was always happy to receive a ‘woman-heavy’ cast.”
Bailey is gratified to direct a witty, all-female cast.
“Many plays and musicals have more male roles than female, and the Bay Area is rich in female presenting talent. Oftentimes, you have five or six women called back for one role in a show, and this show gave me the opportunity to cast nine talented women,” said Bailey.
“I wanted to uplift and give opportunities to an age group of female actors that often get overlooked in the Bay Area,” she said.
Elizabeth Lowenstein, who plays Viola, carpools from Morgan Hill.
“I always enjoy playing a role in a murder mystery, especially at Santa Clara Players, where I can be guided by smart directors and have fun along with our supportive local audiences,” said Lowenstein. “It’s well worth the drive to SC Players, whether I’m in a show or in the audience.”
Robin Harris carpools from San Martin. She is thrilled to play sassy, happy-go-lucky Myrtle—the closest character to her personality that she has played.
“Theater, as we know it, came from religious rites celebrating Dionysus, the god of the dual nature of joy and madness; god of the harvest, wine, chaos, and theater,” pointed out Harris. “I think that he would be pleased [with this production]!”
“Live theater is so important, especially during this time in our history,” said Bailey. “Your participation is vital. Please go see a local production and help keep theater alive in the Bay Area.
“Come laugh with us and help solve the murder mystery that is ‘The Crazy Quilt Club!’”
Visit SC Players online or call (408) 248-7993 for tickets to one of the eight performances—Oct. 24 through Nov. 8—in the 71-seat Hall Pavilion (behind Santa Clara’s Triton Museum of Art), 1750 Don Ave. at Warburton Avenue.
“We are doing this play partly because we have quite a few quilters in our audience,” confided SC Players producer George Doeltz.
The SC Players season continues in 2026 with two classics: Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” (Feb. 27-March 14) and John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine” (May 22-June 6).
Additionally, the SC Players Travelling Troupe is an outreach program that performs affordable, 30- to 60-minute programs for community and private groups.
Note: Weekly/Silicon Valley Voice readers can use the promo code weekly for a 20% discount on “The Crazy Quilt Club” tickets.
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