The Oswego Players’ Fall show for the 2026 season is a debut Season Run of “Old Money, New Habits”, written by local playwright Alexis Martin and directed by Sherri Metz.
The play will be performed over two weekends in mid-October and is a full-length version of the entry script with which Martin won the Don McCann One-Act Playwriting Contest in 2023.
“Old Money, New Habits” is a farce set in an English Estate in the 1930s (why wouldn’t it!), featuring murder, suspects, animosity and the odd glass of port.
Martin grew up in the Theater industry, performing from a young age and knowing it was in her blood. Her debut stage performance after High School was a farce with the Oswego Players, and that cemented her relationship with theatre, “I submitted for the annual Don McCann One Act Playwriting Contest,” she said, “and I was stunned that I won.”
Martin’s winning performance was staged in March 2024. This resulted in a sponsorship from the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse where she received a New York State Council on the Arts Support for Artists Grant, funding a one-night performance of the full length play at the Redhouse in 2025. “I am absolutely thrilled to now see my first play get a full run at the theater I originally wrote it for,” she said.
Metz has performed and directed many comedies with the Oswego Players but has always gravitated towards farce. The difference between farce and standard comedy is that farce is quick-paced, slapstick, often silly, with rapid repartee and side-splitting laughter, the combination of which became her passion. “I mentored Alexis for her One-Act version of “Old Money” and was honored to be asked to direct the full length version for its debut season,” she said. “Auditions were fabulous, with many talented actors giving me some hard choices, but I am so proud of the cast we have assembled.”
Featured in the show are Bill Cowham as the polite but slightly creepy Butler, Josh DeLorenzo as the narcissistic and greedy Percival, Karla Chandler-McCord as the charming and sweet Penelope (wife of Percival), Juniper Briggs as the naïve and non-confrontational Monty (brother of Percival), Jennifer Hitchcock as the domineering and uncaring Felicity (wife of Monty) and Eric Cronk as the Executor who has been given an assignment he never asked for.
Tickets are now on sale for “Old Money, New Habits” at the box office. You can make your reservations online at www.oswegoplayers.org or by calling the box office at 315-343-5138.
“Old Money, New Habits” is presented by special arrangement with Old Money Productions (www.oldmoneyproductions.com).
The Oswego Players acknowledges the generous financial contributions of Chiasson’s Heating and Air Conditioning.
Pictured (Back L to R): Playwright Alexis Martin, Director Sherri Metz, Eric Cronk, Bill Cowham and Juniper Briggs; Front L to R), Josh DeLorenzo, Jennifer Hittchcocl, Karla Chandler-McCord