Almost every city or town has one. You know it when you drive down their main street and see colorful posters inviting everyone to a classic whodunit or a beloved musical or—couldn’t we all use this today?—a knee-slapping comedy. Those plays are presented by community theatre troupes and if you’re lucky, you’ve had the pleasure of being entertained by one.
Sitting in a darkened gymnasium or church hall, awaiting the start of a play, I’ve often wondered how community theatres began. I’d imagined the first one taking place in an outdoor arena in ancient Greece, but its origin doesn’t reach that far back. It was about one hundred years ago that Louise Burleigh wrote about a new form of entertainment developing in small towns and cities. In her book, The Community Theatre in Theory and Practice, Burleigh defined community theatre as an organization “which regularly produces drama on a noncommercial basis and in which participation is open to the community at large."
The city of Oswego embraced that openness soon after the idea was born. In fact, its Oswego Players is one of the oldest continuously operating community theatres in the United States. Founded in 1938, the Players have hosted audiences for many years at its Frances Marion Brown Theatre, located near Fort Ontario. To find out about the Players and who its intimate theatre is named after, I asked its longest-serving member, Inez Parker.
“Frances Marion Brown was one of the founding members,” Inez told me. “She was an English teacher at Kingsford Park and hosted the first meeting of the group at her home.” Parker’s been with the Players more than half a century, which means she’s got lots of stories, like what first drew her to community theatre.
“My father, Norman Manor, Sr., joined the Players in the 1940s,” Inez reminisced. “He was a leading-man type actor because he was a handsome man—he looked like Don Johnson. I just loved seeing him up on the stage. But he would have trouble learning his lines, so I would sit with him and drill his lines. I was eight or ten, and I caught the theatre bug from my father.”
Other Players members have considerable histories with the group, including Rick Sivers, who joined the Players in 1965. Rick has this memory of Frances Marion Brown:
“I first became a member of the Oswego Players while in high school. At my first meeting, I sat in the theatre waiting for it to start and in walks this woman in a light brown ranch coat. Her hair was braided and up on her head. She sat down and then began to smoke a Tiperillo cigar. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was the famous Frances Marion Brown.”
Before founding the theatre dedicated in Brown’s name, the Players’ performances took place wherever they were welcomed: the Robinson Auditorium in the old Oswego High School, the YMCA, and in various churches. One church in particular has become a regular host for the Players, thanks to Inez Parker.
“About 15 years ago,” Inez said, “we were looking for ways to bring people in to the theatre who wouldn’t normally do so. My church, the Episcopal Church, has a Great Hall that is perfect for dinner theatre. The acoustics are exquisite and it has a piano and organ.” Parker designed the theatre-in-a-church event as a full evening of entertainment. After serving a made-from-scratch meal, the play begins. “Then,” explained Inez, “between the two acts we serve coffee, tea and a slice of pie.”
Such events are considered crowd pleasers in the entertainment world, but it isn’t just audiences who enjoy themselves. For many—the number is certainly in the thousands for the Players—performing on stage or working behind the scenes can a profoundly pleasurable experience. Oswegonian Michael Moss has been in numerous Players productions and he offered this reflection on them:
“It’s always fun performing for the audience and they’re always so receptive to our performance. I love the cast bonding and the rehearsal process, as well as having so many great directors to guide us.”
Certainly, each show’s director creates the opportunity for their play to come together and Inez has been at the helm for over 50 Players productions. When directing, she depends on her strong support system of stage managers, light and sound technicians, costume coordinators, set designers and builders, and box office staff. But at the center of it all is the director and to inspire her, Parker looks to her favorite playwrights.
“I absolutely love Agatha Christie and I’ve done them all,” Parker recalled. “And I love musicals. I got the idea of doing an annual musical because we thought they would bring people into the theatre. So in 2009, we did Meet Me in St. Louis. The next year, we did You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown and since then I’ve done Mame, Gypsy and Man of La Mancha.”
Paul McKinney has directed a number of Players shows. He’s has acted in quite a few, too, beginning in 1965, when he was an Oswego State freshman. Paul has also served as the group’s president, a position he currently holds. He said this about the Players’ long-running success:
“Since its inception, the organization has relied wholly on volunteers. Members come from a wide cross-section of the community, but share a common love of theatre. Leadership comes from within the membership, with an executive team elected annually by the general membership. These board members serve as officers and the primary policy-making body of the Oswego Players, Inc.”
The Players is now in its 82nd year and with the current coronavirus pandemic, live theatre is in limbo. When Inez was asked what that means for The Players, she reflected, “In the future, when things open back up, people are going to be dying to see each other and hug each other. It just might be that people will have learned its importance by being away from theatre for so long.”
From the hallways of history I can hear Frances Marion Brown echoing Inez’s thoughts. “We’ve weathered many a storm,” Brown once said, “and are still holding true to the reason we started: to bring good theatre by local casts to Oswego and its environs, and have fun doing it.”
Theatre lovers can get a glimpse of where The Players are headed during the pandemic. The group has announced their next production, Do You Read Me, in which director Norm Berlin presents The Players’ Theatre Arts Youth Academy in its first virtual production. The show will be presented online on October 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25. For more information visit The Players’ website here or their Facebook page, Oswego Players, Inc.
