OSWEGO – Seeking to fulfill a creative void left by an unforgiving pandemic that forced theaters to close their doors in 2020, several members of the Oswego Players decided to revive something that had gone dormant for far too long—a playwriting contest that had been named in honor of longtime member Don McCann.
“We may not be allowed to perform but that can’t stop us from writing,” was the basic premise for re-starting a tradition that began shortly after McCann passed away in 2004.
A lifetime resident of the Port City, McCann made his mark professionally as a reporter for the Oswego Palladium Times, but dove headlong with passion into his avocational interests of acting, directing, and writing by joining the Oswego Players in the mid-1950s.
Over the next four decades he would serve several terms as president and historian for the community theater group which has had a strong regional presence since 1938. Artistically speaking, he known for favoring edgy, message-centered plays like The Visit, Inherit the Wind, and Agnes of God, all of which he directed.
As a naturally-gifted writer McCann would not only publish numerous articles and play reviews for the organization, but tried his hand penning one-act plays for the group to perform as well.
One of McCann’s contemporaries, Rick Sivers, who believed strongly that the person who perpetually encouraged and mentored new life in the theater organization should have his legacy preserved, helped develop the Donald J. McCann Memorial One-Act Playwriting Contest, meant to be an annual competition for aspiring local playwrights.
After a hiatus of nearly a decade, it was revived by a handful of dedicated Players volunteers, a group who not only selected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for the first time ever but also had a hand in producing Candy, this year’s top prize, for the stage.
The witty comedy, written by local author Sarah Galvin, played before a packed-house in the Frances Marion Brown Theatre on March 4, much to the delight of a Central New York audience who had been waiting anxiously for live theater to return.
Anyone interested in submitting an original One-Act Play script for the 2022 contest should contact [email protected] for a complete set of rules and guidelines.
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