To the Editor:

For 54 years, Ogdensburg Command Performances has presented professional touring productions to North Country audiences who would otherwise need to travel to cities and pay higher prices at least two hours from home.

The award-winning series, Youtheatre: Class Acts, also brings in professional performances to support the curriculum for students in grades preK-12. Educators respond positively to this opportunity in their letters to OCP.

On the night of a performance in the newly renovated George Hall Auditorium that this season includes Driving Miss Daisy, Drumline, Saturday Night Fever, Beehive, and Moon River & Me, an Andy Williams tribute starring Jimmy Osmond, the audiences represent a demographic mix from all walks of life: seniors, middle-aged citizens, and young adults eager to experience live theater. More than 200 businesses/organizations advertise their services in the Playbill.

Many audience members go out to dinner, shop, and spend dollars at these businesses before the show. In addition, OCP hires workers and is although often unacknowledged, economically important to the North Country.

Recruiters for professionals to the area advertise that Northern New York is close to Ottawa, Montreal, and Syracuse where one “can travel for cultural events such as plays, performances, museums” (and stay overnight, go to restaurants, and shop). What is our region doing to support quality of life right here?

OCP’s Board of Trustees and volunteers ask for your support now more than ever to bring that same quality of life to the North Country since funding from other sources has been reduced due to the economic climate.

Please attend the performances – buy a ticket for yourself and a friend. Please support fund-raising efforts. Businesses can buy an ad in the Playbill; individuals can make a donation. Please attend Trivia Night/Auction, our largest annual fund-raiser on Jan. 28 at the Freight House - form a team and bid generously in the auction. Please by a giant raffle ticket for $25 for a chance to win $1,000 - only 120 will be sold.

Can you imagine our region with Ogdensburg Command Performances – professional productions brought to our local stage - gone forever? Would you want professional touring productions for students to cease? OCP’s Board of Trustees and volunteers sincerely believe in the mission “to bring the finest professional touring productions and promote educational opportunities that enhance and enrich the lives of the residents, adults and youth, of northern NY and eastern Ontario.”

We hope you believe in it, too. Please call Sally Palao, 393-2625, for additional information.

Ogdensburg Command Performances Board of Trustees

Patricia Swan, Rebecca Bailey, Darlene Liscum, Brenda Trivilino, Cynthia Wilson, Linda Griffin, Patricia E. Bell, Kathleen Connor, Linda Fenlong, Kathy Lawrence, Irene Enslow, and Vicky Garrabrant