Write a commentA yellow vintage telephone hangs on the wall beside an armchair where Inez Parker, director of the upcoming play "Death in the O.R.," sits excitedly, waiting to tell I Heart Oswego about the upcoming play.
"The phone has been ringing off the hook for tickets for our Aug. 23 dinner and show gala," Parker said. "But all those tickets are sold out! It's gotten to the point where I have to start sending checks back to people who sent them to me hoping to get a ticket."
"Death in the O.R." premiers Aug. 23 at The American Foundry in Oswego where a buffet dinner and cocktails will be served before the show. Tickets for the 75th anniversary gala sold out so quickly that Parker recently announced they have added matinee showing of the play on Aug. 24 at 2 p.m. at The American Foundry. Tickets are still available for that show.
The play, written by Dr. Michael Nupuf, is an adaptation of Steve Abbott and Dr. John Fountain's book "O.R." The book, a fictional work, is based on true events of a nurse's death in Oswego Hospital in 1964.
Tammy Wilkinson, who plays the lead role of the nurse whose name in the play is Angie Frascati, discussed the importance of the 75th anniversary dinner.
"Even though this is the second gala to sell out completely, this one is simply a celebration of our members," Wilkinson said. "It's to show the community how much hard work we put into every play and how much we love doing it."
Oswego Players first formed in 1938 by Francis Marion Brown. Brown directed the first play ever performed by the Oswego Players titled "The Late Christopher Bean."
"She was an English teacher," Parker recalled of Brown. "She used to smoke cigars. And they were the long skinny ones and she had a very deep voice."
Since their first performance in 1938, Oswego Players have continuously performed plays for the community without ever taking a break.
"On our website it says we are one of the oldest all-volunteer theater groups in the nation. We're on the top five from what I understand," Wilkinson said.
"There's one in New Orleans that I know is ahead of us, but that's where a lot of theater is," said Parker. "Even if it was just one show a year, we have not missed a year in 75 years of doing shows.".
Parker has been involved with Oswego Players for more than 50 years. Her father was involved with the Oswego Players when it first formed.
"He was an actor and he also helped build the sets," Parker said. "When I was a kid, when my father would be in a show, I can remember going up to my bedroom and my father would sit on one end of the bed and I would sit on the other and I would help him remember his lines."
Parker said Brown held rehearsals in people's homes but when it came time to perform, the cast would rent out the theater room in Oswego High School.
"It was (around) $100 a night to rent out the theater," Parker said. "Back then, that was a lot of money. So, the guys would go to the high school in the morning and build the set. They painted it and had it ready for the show. I don't know how they did that, but they did."
Parker said that performances were held at the Oswego High School up until 1964 when Brown found a building that is now known as Frances Marion Brown Theatre.
"That building dates back to the civil war," Parker said. "The building at that time was a commissary. Roosevelt said there were 1,800 Jewish refugees and he brought them here to this city during World War II. The awful part was that they put them behind barbed wires in the fort."
Parker explained that Ralph Faust, the principal of Oswego High School from 1939 to 1964, initiated an education movement for the refugees. "Because of him, those kids were able to get (an) education," Parker said.
Parker reminisced about the early stages of the building, which she said was in rough shape with broken windows. She and her father helped Brown and others rebuild the building.
"I can remember holding nails and holding boards and stuff like that," she said. "Our men, our organization rebuilt the theater we use now."
Parker and Wilkinson said they, along with Oswego Players, cherish the building they perform in every day as well as the art of theater.
"There's gotta be a bunch of us with our hands in the pot every day all day," Wilkinson said. "We live (theater) and breathe it along with our regular lives—"
"I don't have a regular life, are you out of your mind?" Parker interrupted with a smile.
"Well, I gave up a regular life," Wilkinson said with a laugh. "I just want (the community) to understand that this organization is very, very dear to me and to a lot of us. We're a family."
Parker, Wilkinson and members of Oswego Players thank Pathfinder Bank for sponsoring this year's 75th anniversary dinner and show.
As for "Death in the O.R.," Parker and the rest of the cast encourage the audience to dress in 1960s attire.
"Anyone who can't remember what we looked like in the 60s, go and watch Mad Men," she said with a laugh.
Although the Friday, Aug. 23 showing is sold out, tickets are still available for the matinee showing on Saturday, Aug. 24. Parker said to reserve tickets, call her at 315-342-0639.
"Please do not call the theater as the machine is not set u to handle reservations for this show," she added.
All proceeds for the Saturday showing will be donated to a fund for nurses in Oswego Hospital in memory of Marlene Angelina.
"We aren't just the Oswego Players," Parker said. "We are a community and we honor that."
