On the stage at the Oswego Players, an ensemble group of a dozen actors are testing their theatrical sea legs in Luke Yankee’s play “The Last Lifeboat”.
The play explores the life of J. Bruce Ismay, owner of The White Star Line. An upper-crust Englishman who always did what was expected of him, Ismay went to the best schools, married the right society girl (even though he was in love with someone else) and vowed to his staunch, unfeeling father on his deathbed that he would take over the family shipping business and build the biggest, most opulent ship the world had ever seen: the RMS Titanic.
The production, part of the Players’ 85th anniversary season, will run weekends July 14 through 23 at the Frances Marion Brown Theatre at Fort Ontario, Oswego, NY. Friday and Saturday night curtain times are at 7:30PM, with Sunday matinee times at 2PM. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Reservations may be made by calling 315-343-5138 or going to https://oswegoplayers.org.
The play features the talents of Matthew Fleming as Ismay, with Gina Mazzoli as his wife, Florence, and Allison Vanouse as Vivienne, his first love. Rounding out the ensemble are: Jim Martin, Joshua Delorenzo, Beverly Murtha, Megan Murtha, Emilee Edick, Richard Heim, Norman Berlin, Kat Reitano, and Katie Donovan playing over 30 characters that range from infamous figures like William Randolph Hearst, JP Morgan, and Madeline Astor, to witnesses, reporters, and survivors of the Titanic.
The entire production is under multiple SALT Award-winning guest director William Edward White, whose vision for the production is a Titanic Museum filled with images, memories, and ghosts.
“Ismay survived the sinking of the Titanic, but in so many ways he never left her. For the last 25 years of his life he was haunted by those events and how history painted him,” White explained.
We all know the story of how the ship sank…or do we? Ismay saved as many people as he could and finally, with no women and children in sight, he stepped into the last lifeboat…and was branded a coward and traitor forever. The world needed a scapegoat and Ismay became the perfect target.
The Oswego Players’ production of “The Last Lifeboat” is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.
The ensemble of “The Last Lifeboat” tests out their sea legs aboard the Schooner Ontario located at the H Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego. The cast members are, from left: Jim Martin, Emilee Edick, Matthew Fleming, Gina Mazzoli, Megan Murtha, Joshua Delorenzo, Norman Berlin, Katie Donovan, and Richard Heim. The play runs weekends July 14 – 23.