Woerpel marks 30th year directing with world premiere of ‘Stag Light’
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ESCANABA -- The world premiere of Stag Light at Bay College Thursday night marked Jeff Woerpel's 30th year of directing with Players de Noc.
Woerpel says it has been a long journey over the past 30 years to reach the point where he could direct the debut of a national play that has never been performed before.
Woerpel first directed A Christmas Carol in 1996. He says he built on the experiences of others in the theater community who came before him.
"They laid down a really strong foundation on how to do theater the right way -- by learning your lines, not relying on prompting and providing details on the sets the best you can," Woerpel said. "I learned a lot from them. Even though I went to college for some theater, working here is where I got a lot of my experience."
Because of the fire damage at the downtown Bonifas Theater in 2025, Thursday night's performance was staged at Bay College.
Over the past 30 years, Woerpel has spent thousands of hours with Players de Noc directing musicals and plays for the community to enjoy.
Patience is one of the biggest things he has learned. He says it takes time to help actors find their characters.
"What is fun about being a director, as opposed to acting one character, is that you are creating this whole world with your imagination and then that discovery within the rehearsal process with the actors -- finding those characters and moments and things that work and don't work," Woerpel said. "All of a sudden, something will surprise you and you get really excited about how fun that is to find those moments."
This time, as the director of Stag Light, Woerpel is helping create the production that other directors will be able to learn from when they stage the play in the future.
Players de Noc was chosen by the American Association of Community Theatre to produce the world premiere of the play, written by Emily Turner of Ohio. Woerpel's director's notes about the production will become part of the script, providing guidance for other theater groups that produce the play.
Woerpel says he loves community theater because of the people it brings together to put on a production. He says hundreds of people have been part of Players de Noc over the 30 years he has been directing.
"People from all over, from all walks of life," he said. "We've had actors who are kids, adults who might be bankers, people you probably would never get to know in normal interactions all come together in this situation that is a one for all and all for one, basically."
Stag Light continues this weekend, with performances at 7:30 Friday and Saturday night and a 1:30 p.m. matinee Sunday. Tickets are available at playersdenoc.org or at the door.