The Cranford Dramatic Club is the longest continuously producing community theater in the state of New Jersey. It began as a small group of townspeople who wanted to share good theater with their friends and neighbors. The first meeting took place in October of 1919 and they have produced plays in Cranford every year since then.

The first performances took place in the Sherlock Hall of the Trinity Episcopal Church. In the 1920s, they moved to the now-defunct Casino in Cranford. After World War II, many of the shows were produced at Cranford High School.

Then, in the mid-1950s, a group of the club’s members decided to build their own theater. Placing their names on the mortgage guarantee, work began on the building that would become CDC Theater on Winans Avenue. It officially opened to the public in 1957.

In the decades that followed, CDC produced four major shows each year (now down to 3), a children’s production during the holidays and, on occasion, one or two “members’ only” productions of new or experimental productions. In 1992, the theater underwent some renovation – replacing its chairs, a new façade on the front, and modernizing its plumbing and storage areas. In 2003, just in time for its 85th season, the lighting system was completely re-done, adding a dropped ceiling, new lighting instruments, and a computer operated dimming system.

A fundraising effort has allowed the theater to add a downstairs handicapped accessible bathroom.