Live Theatre at OSO Hall

Pamela Giroux | Nov 02, 2022

Last November NFLT, with Covid protocols in place, held a successful fundraiser called "On with the Show" at OSO Hall. At the fundraiser it was announced that the first production at the newly renovated OSO Hall would be "The Red Lamp" The story of how this play was selected is the focus of this article.

During the Covid lockdown in February 2020, my friend Judi Montgomery, sent me an email that caught my attention and imagination. Judi was researching ancestry and decided to check archiveofnewspaper.com. Since she has family connections to Sharbot Lake she entered it into the website's search engine. To her surprise an article appeared written in the Ottawa Citizen dated August 1922 with the title "An Amateur Play at Sharbot Lake". It described the first show ever performed at the newly constructed OSO Memorial Hall, which was built to honour local soldiers who fought in the Great War. With mounting curiosity she read the review of"The Red Lamp", a comedy in two Acts. Judi is a great fan of NFLT so she emailed me immediately and forwarded the article from the Ottawa Citizen.

As I read through the list of cast members in 1922 it dawned on me that I met these people in 1966 when I arrived in Sharbot Lake for my first teaching assignment at Sharbot Lake High School. The people who had performed in "The Red Lamp" in 1922 were now seniors. How extraordinary to read about people I once knew who performed on stage so many years ago and are now long gone. Here was a unique opportunity to bring this play to the stage exactly 100 years later at our newly renovated OSO Hall and NFLT's new venue! After reading through a copy of the play the NFLT Executive decided unanimously that "The Red Lamp" should be revisited with a few alterations by Director, Jeff Siamon. So the curtain will rise this November at OSO Hall for an historic revival of "The Red Lamp".

First show is Thursday November 24, next Friday November 25, and Sunday November 27 (matinee) On With The Show!!