Tulsa Spotlight Theatre and “The Drunkard”

Tulsa Spotlight Theatre and “The Drunkard”. . More than a quarter-million people have seen America's longest-running play at the Tulsa Spotlight Theatre, that block-shaped building with the big, round window fronting Riverside Drive. Since 1953, families have flocked to the Spotlight on Saturday evenings to sing along with the pianist, hiss at the villain of the comic melodrama, and applaud the Olio performers – singers, dancers, comedians, magicians, jugglers and more. , The show's enduring appeal later proved providential for its architecturally important home. The property had been purchased in 1941 by renowned local actor Richard Mansfield Dickinson for a residence and “school of speech.” Late in 1952, he and other theatre types formed the Spotlight Club. Its members socialized at a downtown restaurant, but they were eager to do more. , Dickinson reworked an old melodrama script, renamed it “The Drunkard,” and offered his home's built-in auditorium for an expected one-show public production. The curtain rose on Nov. 14, 1953 and, at Tulsa's insistence, has risen for thousands of Saturdays since. , The thriving club became a non-profit and in 1962 bought the building from Dickinson. He charged the Spotlighters a fraction of what developers had been offering. (The developers reportedly said, “Curses! Foiled again”). , In 2015 the Spotlighters received a Governor's Arts Award for community service recognizing decades of support for local charities. , The theatre continues to hold open auditions monthly. Give it a try! , Captions (clockwise from top left): , . Richard Mansfield Dickinson in costume. , . Mel Tilley, John Hansen, Sebastian Paden, Tom Rowe , . An ever-changing cast keeps the tradition going. Clockwise from bottom left: Richard A. Robertson; William “Ragtime Bill” Rowland; G. Mark Roberts; Tulsa Mayor Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr.; Sue “Mehitable” Wiedemann; Artistic Director Joe Sears; Larry Cochran; Larry Stockard. , . Pendleton Family Fiddlers: Virginia, Emma Jane, Scott, Marina. , . One early Spotlight enthusiast was the celebrated Tulsa artist Clarence Allen. His 1950s souvenir program (left} features the show's original cast. Above, some of the more than 3,000 Tulsans who followed. , . The Spotlight's Olio performers frequently entertained at hospitals and charitable institutions, sometimes exceeding 300 shows a year during the 1960s. Bottom row, L-R: Hubert “Hub” Hogue, Marna McKinney, Georgia Noel, Max Roberts, Tedd Tilton. Top row, L-R: Eleanor Bash Froman, Carole Gulley , [Contributors] , Brian D. Bailey . Bobbi Ann Gannaway . John and Teddi Hansen . Z. Eileen “Fanny” Huggins Hardy . Erin Herring . O.M. and Kris Osborn . Hargen Family Singers . Rachel Horsley, Scheduler . Karl and Mabel Janssen . John Jolly “Half-Magic, Half-Wit” . Larry A. Kelley . Jan “Fanny” Kendall . Lee “Sunny” Lowder . Roberta B. Mayfield . Eric David Miller . Dr. Ernest R. Raymor . Bob E. Roberts . Larry and Jared Stockard . The Uncapher and Frost Families . Jere Uncapher aka “The Gremlin” . Pete Walterschild . Lidya and Annabelle Zumwalt 1957-68 . Top Hat Magic