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.