OAP Community Theatre recruiting year-round participants

OAP Community Theatre, known for featuring one-act play productions, is hoping to gather new members to be part of the group in one way or another. (Ted McLauchlin photo)

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

The newest local community theatre organization is dedicated to one-act productions and building community.

One Act Players (OAP) Community Theatre is the first new community theatre organization in Oxford County in three decades. Before OAP Community Theatre, Embro’s Thistle Theatre was the newest in the county when it was founded in 1994.

“This is a new thing and we're walking out on a limb to do this, but we're excited about the process of doing what we're doing,” said Ted McLauchlin, executive producer.

OAP Community Theatre held the Festival of One Act Plays (FOAP) in Ingersoll and with Theatre Woodstock before it branched out into its own organization. OAP Community Theatre will focus on one-act plays and will present Lights, Camera, Murder in June.

“We are sticking to a one-act format, so our plays are generally going to be shorter, more fringe style, skit style, maybe a little bit of alternative theatre as opposed to traditional, two-act plays,” explained artistic director Kim DiLello.

DiLello said the shorter theatre productions are welcomed by audiences. With short-form content like TikTok videos and Instagram Reels being popular, there’s more need for short-form theatre pieces.

"We're used to scrolling and seeing TikTok videos and so the shorter plays. People are busy, they want to come in, see a show and be out in an hour,” she said.

Throughout the year, OAP Community Theatre wants to reach out to adults who haven’t dipped their toes into community theatre and offer various opportunities such as table reads and workshops.

"In a normal community theatre, you come out and do the play and you do the play for three months and the play would happen and that would be the end of that,” McLauchlin said. “What we're trying to do in terms of engagement is have a membership that can be involved in community theatre in some aspect."

OAP Community Theatre had 25 people participate in a previous table read and the group discussed it after doing a cold read.

"It was wonderful, and we want to do more things like that,” he added.

OAP Community Theatre always opened its doors to those who are interested in trying theatre but felt too intimidated to participate in a multi-act play or musical. The group also wants to bring together a community for people to be creative and get together throughout the year.

"This is what people are looking for as a creative outlet and at the end of the day, the bottom line is we're putting on great theatre as well,” McLauchlin said. “Just because the people are new it doesn't mean our standard of theatre is any less."

More information about OAP Community Theatre can be found by visiting online via www.oapcommunitytheatre.com or through Facebook or Instagram.