Welcome to Sock & Buskin Players

Established  in 1974…Sock & Buskin Community Theater is a volunteer group whose  
purpose is to produce, perform, and introduce theater to the community  by utilizing local talent and resources.

In April 1974, a small group of people produced the play entitled The Fantasticks.  Little did they know that community theater in Sidney would catch on.  In the fall of that same year, the group signed papers and filed them with the State of Ohio creating the non-profit organization called Sock  & Buskin Players.
The name Sock & Buskin comes from the Greek  stage. The “sock” was a light shoe worn in Greek comedies, while the  “buskin” was a laced boot worn in Greek tragedies.

For 42 years, Sock & Buskin has been your hometown community theatre but with no set home. Through the years, the group has performed in  various venues indoors and outdoors including Central Elementary,  Bridgeview Middle School, Sidney High School, Shelby County Fairgrounds,  Hickory Hills,
Shelby County Childrens’ Home, Sidney Elks Lodge, Cameo  Theatre, Sidney Holiday Inn, and The Fairington Restaurant.
Watch our events page to see where we are and where we will be!

Audiences may remember the beautifully-dressed cast of Hello Dolly! directed by the late George Martin in 1983 or even the two-person cast of Same Time, Next Year in 1988. There was the fun production of Little Mary Sunshine  in 1985 performed on the stage at Hickory Hills long before Country Concert was one of the biggest outdoor productions in Shelby County.  In 1987, the old Childrens’ Home building was transformed into a small 55-seat theatre. Theater members even wrote  some original scripts exclusively for Sock & Buskin. The first was Christmas at our Home in 1989, A Star in the Window done in December 1990, and then WSNB Radio Hour  in 1991 which earned seven awards for the announcers, sound effects, set elements, and trio of singers at the Ohio Community Theatre’s (OCTA)  West Regional festival that year. In 1992, an excerpt of Steel Magnolias was presented at OCTA’s West Regional festival and reaped acting awards for
Vickie Blanford and Alyson Morris. 

The late Judy Widney was the first recipient of the Sock & Buskin Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 for her years of dedication to promoting theater arts in Shelby County. The 1991 award  was presented posthumously to George Martin. Subsequent awards were  presented to J. Oliver and Peg Amos, Kent Smith, Christi Thomas, Shelby  Manufacturing, David and Sherrie Casad-Lodge, Sharon Arnold Eikenberry, and Mike Maxson.

2019 - Fairy Tale Misfits, Grease, Frozen Jr, Steel Magnolias

2018 - Things My Mother Taught Me
2015 - And the World Goes Round

2014 - The Wizard of Oz 

2013 – Footloose; Alice in Wonderland

2012 – Dear Edwina; School House Rock, Live; Rocky Horror, Live; Mr. Scrooge 

2011 – Hairspray; Willy Wonka, Jr.; RENT 

2010 – Back to the 80’s; Aladdin, Jr.; The Best Christmas Pageant Ever 

2009 – Into The Woods; 101 Dalmatians; Littlest Light on the Christmas Tree 

2008 – Fame; The Jungle Book and Sleeping Beauty; Twas the Night Before Christmas

2007 – All In The Timing; Grease; Really Rosie

2006 – Murder at the Howard Johnson’s; Side by Side by Sondheim; Johnny Appleseed; Holiday Production 

2005 – House For Sale; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; A Visit from St. Nicholas

2004 – Wally’s Café; The Shakespeare Revue; Johnny Appleseed 

2003 – Over the River and Through the Woods; Calamity Jane; Deathtrap 

2000 – The Music Man 

1999 –Olympus on my Mind; The Marriage Fool; Mother Goose, Inc.; Hello Dolly!

1998 – The Boys Next Door; Camping With Henry & Tom; The Taffetas 

1997 – Nunsense; Love, Sex & the IRS; Sylvia 

1996 – Crimes of the Heart; Beau Jest; Mr. Scrooge 

1995 – Love Letters; USO-Do You Remember?

1994 – A Tomb With a View; 20th Anniversary Musical Revue 

1993 – Harvey; Rumors; The Homecoming 

1992 – Steel Magnolias; Nunsense; Best Christmas Pageant Ever 

1991 – WSNB Radio Hour; Plaza Suite; Mr. Scrooge 

1990 – Odd Couple; Agatha Christie Made Me Do It; Star in the Window 

1989 – Blithe Spirit; Plaza Suite; Home 

1988 – Heaven Can Wait; Fiddler on the Roof; Side by Side by Sondheim; Mr. Scrooge

1987 – You Can’t Take It With You; Sound of Music; Mr. Scrooge 

1986 – Moustrap; Charley’s Aunt; Carnival 

1985 – Same Time, Next Year; On Golden Pond; Little Mary Sunshine; Music Man 

1984 – The Fantasticks; Bus Stop; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 

1983 – Impolite Comedy; Glass Menagerie; Oklahoma 

1982 – Unhealthy to be Unpleasant; I Remember Mama; Lily, the Felons Daughter; Guys & Dolls 

1981 – How the Other Half Loves; Our Town; Hello Dolly! 

1980 – Fiddler on the Roof; Only an Orphan Girl; South Pacific 

1979 – Six Rms Riv Vu; Godspell; Ten Little Indians 

1978 – Three Men on a Horse; Don’t Drink the Water

1977 – Sunshine Boys; Man of LaMancha; Arsenic & Old Lace 

1976 – You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Prisoner of Second Avenue

1975 – Wait Until Dark; Barefoot in the Park; Curious Savage 

1974 – The Fantasticks; Never Too Late