The Oswego Players are proud to announce the casts of two fantasy plays being presented together this spring. The audience of the Little Theatre on the Water will see a Shakespearian comedy and a dancing bear on the Frances Marion Brown Theatre stage. The first play being presented is a one-act version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This will be the first time in the 87-year history of the Oswego Players that a Shakespeare play will be produced. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and widely performed plays. It is set in Athens and consists of numerous subplots that revolve around the marriage of King Theseus and Queen Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four teenage Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate them as part of their own domestic intrigue.

The Oswego Players are seeking aspiring playwrights from all over the State of New York who want the chance to have their work performed at the Frances Marion Brown Theatre. The Donald J. McCann Memorial One-Act Playwriting Contest, a competition dedicated to the discovery of creative and original, unproduced one act plays, is officially open for submissions this year. Don McCann Playwriting Contest Coordinator Norman Berlin III says that “Anyone who has ever had the slightest interest in writing a play is strongly encouraged to enter this year’s playwriting contest!”

- For this year's fourth iteration of the Don McCann Playwriting Showcase, The Oswego Players are producing the four standout one act plays from last year’s Don McCann One Act Memorial Playwriting Contest. The 2024 Playwriting Contest was open to all residents of New York State; this resulted in the highest number of submissions in the history of the contest. These four prize winning one acts were chosen from a wide variety of ninety plays. The third play being performed at the 2025 Showcase is “Birthrite” by Lydia Merritt. The synopsis to “Birthrite” is “Out of loneliness, a mother does not want her child to be born, but to stay safe within her. The child fights for the right to be born and live independently.” The author of “Birthrite, Lydia Merritt has been writing plays, screenplays, poems and short stories since the early 2000s. She has had staged readings of her work performed at the 13th Street Theater; CUNY Graduate School; United Auto Workers Center; worked with the Moonstone Repertory Company founded by Thelma Carter from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts; Women’s Theater Rep Co. She taught Theater and Film at Queens College for several years. She recently left the world of academia to devote herself full time to writing.

For this year's fourth iteration of the Don McCann Playwriting Showcase, The Oswego Players is producing the four standout one act plays from last year’s Don McCann One Act Memorial Playwriting Contest. The 2024 Playwriting Contest was open to all residents of New York state, this resulted in the highest number of submissions in the history of the contest. These four prize winning one acts were chosen from a wide variety of ninety plays. The first play being performed at the 2025 Showcase is “Like Clockwork” by Andrada Angileri. "Like Clockwork" begins after spending the night celebrating Molly's 30th birthday, Alan and Molly return to their apartment to unwind, but not everything is as it seems. Andrada Angileri is a graduate of SUNY Purchase and Terry Knickerbocker Studio's Professional Acting Conservatory. She is an actress and playwright based in NYC. Her works have been published in literary magazines (FeelsBlindLiterary '21, Qutub Minar Review '23, Barely Seen 'Featured Playwright July '23) and performed at various festivals (POV Fest '21, Warner International Playwright's Festival '22, Kibo Productions' Reboot Festival '23). When not focusing on theatre work, she enjoys writing novels, creating worlds on the Sims 4, and watching the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as many times as humanly possible.

For this year's fourth iteration of the Don McCann Playwriting Showcase, The Oswego Players is producing the four standout one act plays from last year’s Don McCann One Act Memorial Playwriting Contest. The 2024 Playwriting Contest was open to all residents of New York state, this resulted in the highest number of submissions in the history of the contest. These four prize winning one acts were chosen from a wide variety of ninety plays. The second play being performed at the 2025 Showcase is “Maybe Tomorrow” by Brian Leahy Doyle. In “Maybe Tomorrow”, when Michael invites Ellen to his family get-together on the Fourth of July, two lonely, single, middle-aged college literature professors discover not only the true value of friendship but also the deep attraction they feel for one another. Fireworks fly in more ways than one when Michael tells Ellen that he’s in love with her, and she realizes that her feelings for him go beyond friendship.