About DSP
Durham Shoestring Performers
In 2026-27, 53 Years of Accessible Theatre
Oshawa’s downtown community theatre was founded in 1974 by Jeannine Butler, whose objectives are followed by her successors today – to present challenging and entertaining plays with an emphasis on innovative acting, writing, directing and design and to produce these plays keeping costs low so that live theatre can be accessible to all members of the community.
In 2022 DSP incorporated as a not-for-profit Ontario corporation. The current Board members are Carolyn Wilson (President), Laurie Scattergood (Treasurer), Andra Kelly (Secretary), Megan Graichen, Jeff Kellar, Dante McLean and Sheri Pereira.
DSP programs many shows not often seen in community theatre and has produced several new full-length works by local writers. Canadian plays have been prominently featured over the years. DSP’s goal each season is to balance available roles across gender, age and experience lines in keeping with DSP’s accessibility mandate, ensuring that backstage workers find their niche as well.
All auditions are public and there are no monologues required to participate in the company. Adults and teenagers wanting to perform or to work backstage are always welcome. There’s no membership fee to get involved in DSP, just a desire to create a few theatrical waves and the time and commitment to make it happen.
DSP has performed all seasons from the Arts Resource Centre behind Oshawa City Hall. Because of the intimacy of the 95 seat “fishbowl”, this venue affords a powerful theatrical experience for audiences; no seat is more than 8 metres from the stage. DSP chooses plays that suit this close contact well. We strive to program many Canadian scripts.
A scroll through our Archives offers a full listing of past productions. Not your usually expected community theatre fare, but an affordable pleasure for the adventurous theatre-goer.
DSP’s next season is announced annually in mid-summer.
Scripts can be borrowed for advance reading of the plays, and people interested in backstage, design or production work are also welcome to attend any audition – no performance necessary, but to let us know you’d like to be involved.
History
Much of DSP’s story was seen and appreciated by local press, which provided invaluable exposure, especially in the company’s early days, to get the word out. Collected and kept across five decades by members whose lives are told in these countless pages, this history has been preserved, and is presently in the process of transcription for digital viewing.
For 16 years, from conception in 1974 until her retirement in 1990, Jeannine Butler stood as Artistic Director and Producer of DSP. This Butler-Era accounted for DSP’s foundation and beginnings of a project more resilient than she had ever expected, and a vision endlessly loved by those who stuck to it in her name.
You can read about those years of DSP compiled below, wherein the words and contributions of many are recognized and remembered: