SOS Gala raises $9,400 for the teen acting troupe

The success of the SOS Players’ third-annual fundraising gala means the teen acting troupe will soon be able to replace the uncomfortable seating in its Fourth Street Playhouse in Hudson.

Donations and the silent and live actions at the Sept. 16 fund-raiser at The Phipps Center for the Arts brought in $9,400.

“Your generosity made it possible to replace all the cushions and came close to funding all the chairs (for the Playhouse),” SOS Executive Director Sue Oberg said in a thank you message to contributors.

The SOS Players (Skits Outreach Services Inc.) were founded in 1990 by the late June Erdman, whose goal was to use the powerful medium of drama to help teens make good decisions in life.

The troupe has been based at the former St. Paul’s Episcopal Church building — now the Fourth Street Playhouse — at the corner of Fourth and Orange streets since 1999.

A couple of years ago, the SOS Players added a juniors program. And this year, the troupe has added a second full cast of actors based at the Landmark Center in St. Paul.

SOS performs up to 150 shows annually, mostly throughout the Midwest. In nearly two decades of service, the troupe has performed before more than a million young people.

The organization is led by an ambitious staff of both paid and volunteer workers.

In addition to playing to school audiences, the Players perform in churches and at conferences and conventions.

Their skits address issues like teen pregnancy, peer rejection, diversity, cyber-bullying, and drug and alcohol abuse.

The newest requested sketches are poverty, neglect and a new sketch on depression that premiered at the gala.

“The experts agree on two things – at-risk behaviors for young people are nearing epidemic proportions, and youth need help and hope to cope in today’s world,” said Oberg.

You can learn more about the SOS Players by going to their Web site, www.sosplayers.org.

Tags: community, hudson, sos_players, theater