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If you are looking for some entertainment you should leave your house and T.V. for a while. Head down towards Fort Ontario and you will find the Oswego Players Theater.
Inside you will find plays performed by the Oswego Players, an organization that has been entertaining Oswego since the 1930s. This past Wednesday the group hosted a small gathering for the spreading of awareness and information on the Oswego Players
Currently recognized as one of the oldest “continuous” theater groups in the country the Oswego Players organization is almost eighty years old. Growing out of a high school drama club in the 1920s the players were formally established in the year 1938 with their first big play performed in the April of 1939. In the beginning, the Players did not have their own space to perform. Most of their plays were put on at the high school or in whatever space was large enough and available at the time. Set pieces were constructed quickly before the weekend plays and then quickly taken down so the performance space could go back to being used for its original purpose. Years later the players got their own space to practice their craft down by the fort.
The building they are in now used to be used for food stuffs by the military stationed at the fort. When it came into their possession the players began to make the building their own. The added their stage, dressing rooms, storage for props and sets, and whatever else they might need. Their costume closet is full of outfits and clothing items accumulated over the years and many plays for futures use. Some of the costumes are made by hand by hard working members and others are thrown together from the articles of clothing that have accumulated over time. The basement is full of wood and tools used for the creation of the sets. Many of the sets are repurposed and used again after the conclusion of a play. Current group president Rick Sivers described the creation the set pieces. “If we make something that we might use again we make it sturdy. If not, then we just take it apart.”
Rick Sivers joined the Oswego Players in 1964. One of his favorite plays was one of the first he took part in called She Stoops to Conquer back in 1964. “It was a lot of fun and it locked me in.” Sivers left the players and Oswego for a while as his job took him away, but came back to Oswego in his retirement and rejoined the drama group. In his years involved with the players, he has penned a few plays of his own. The Towne House Murders and M.B.H. are two of his plays that have been performed on stage.
The play currently being performed is called Fools, and the actors promise to deliver a fun and entertaining display for anyone who comes down to see the show. For more information and show times you can visit http://www.oswegoplayers.org/.
