Season Seven of Theatre-in-the-Bar proved to be another turning point. This was the first season to include original material: a dramatic adaptation, "Real Remembrances of the War in Viet Nam," a fundraiser for local veterans, opened the season.
1999Now motivated to find a permanent home, one Sunday afternoon, as we pressed our noses against the window of the empty store front at 318 Sixth Street, we felt we had found it. Sept. 24, 1999, we opened both our Eighth Season and The Sixth Street Theatre.
2004This commitment to both original theatre and comedy started us thinking about how to combine them in – well, an original way. In 2004, we announced the "2005 Snowdance 10 Minute Play Festival" and solicited original scripts to be produced in January.
2008Part of the popularity of Snowdance is the between script "hyjinx" that cover the scene changes. Because these really short sketches are so much fun, we embarked on a production based entirely on original sketch comedy, and "Theatre / Schmeatre" was born.
2014Dabbling in Children's Theatre in 2007 planted the seed for more original adaptations, and in 2014, we added a bonus show to our season, "OOHPIE's Fables." This was followed the next year by "OOHPIE vs. The Big Bad Wolf" which returns by popular demand.
2016Our Silver Anniversary Season of Live Theatre in Downtown Racine! We are still a non-profit organization of volunteer theatrical talent and present a full season of plays at the Sixth Street Theatre. To volunteer please call the box office at 262-632-6802.
2017Born from the brain, Rich Smith, one of OOHP's founding members, and a special love for Racine hometown humor, "All the Kringle Ladies" (a parody of Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies") became the starting point for our popular Kringle the Musical series. Filled with parody songs, a live band, loads of local humor, and following the saga of the Yopanson family bakers, the Kringle series has had four full scale installments, including: (2017) Kringle...the Musical?, (2019) Kringle...West of the I Side Story, (2021) A Kringle Carol, (2023) Kringle...7 Mile Fair Lady.
When the world closed up shop in the Spring of 2020, the Over Our Head Players did everything we could to stay safe and present. We handmade OOHP face masks, bought gallons of sanitizer, and maintained our 6 feet! All live in person performances were put on hold, but we still produced a virtual online performance of Snowdance, complete with audience voting and Best in Snow! We weathered the storm with the support and generosity of our wonderful volunteers and patrons to whom we are forever grateful.
2021We turned thirty baby! Still going strong in Downtown Racine, providing fresh and unique productions that meet the artistic aspirations of our actors and satisfying entertainment for our patrons.
2022Puppets outnumbered humans in our first in-house written sketch comedy musical that didn't have the word "Kringle" in the title. Based on the classic seafaring novel, "MOBY DICK; the sketch comedy puppet musical that Herman Melville would have loved but never admitted", was given life! Stay tuned to see what classic novel we will pay homage to next!
2024We reached our 20 year milestone for our most popular and best selling show, Snowdance! Submissions have grown to hundreds per year and have come from all over the world and all 50 of our greatest States, including Illinois. Here's to 20 more years!
We asked our volunteers, patrons, and staff what the future of Over Our Head Players should look like and were told overwhelmingly we should keep the Sixth Street Theatre as our home for the foreseeable future. But, maybe we could use some "improvements". So, a Capital Campaign began to raise funds for renovations. Val and Gary Zamencik stepped in and offered a $50,000 matching gift if we could raise that much or more. Over $100,000 was raised, mostly through our incredibly generous patrons and volunteers, and we outfitted the theatre with new seats and risers, a state-of-the-art lighting grid and sound board, a new changing room and bathroom shower for our actors and backstage volunteers, as well as new stage flats and power tools. The Grand Re-OOHP-ening happened on September 20th, 2024!