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Actors needed for Oliver Perry production Fifty actors are needed to portray the parts in the Oliver Curtis Perry Production that will be held at the County Courthouse on October 16 and 17. The two-act play provides speaking parts for lawyers, reporters, and witnesses, and non-speaking parts for jurors, court personnel, and costumed extras who fill the first row of the courtroom. The play covers the events that preceded Oliver Curtis Perry's 1892 trial, the trial itself, and the 38 years he was incarcerated before his death. On February 22, 1892, after botching a train robbery in Syracuse, Oliver Curtis Perry hijacked the train, took the controls, and headed west. When he arrived in Lyons, the robber jumped from the train, eluded the authorities and hopped aboard a steam engine that was headed west. After exchanging bullets with the crew of an express locomotive that pursued him on a parallel track, Perry abandoned his steam locomotive and took off on foot. He stole and then abandoned two horses and finally hid behind a stone wall in a cedar swamp outside of Newark. Finally, late the following day, members of the Sheriff's Department found and arrested Perry and confined him in the Wayne County Jail. Perry pled guilty and was sentenced to 49 years and three months for his attempted train robbery. After serving three years in Auburn, Perry was declared insane and transferred to Mattewan. He escaped, was recaptured, and spent the rest of his life in Dannemora Prison, the last 25 years in total darkness due to the fact that he blinded himself in hopes that his disability would be a cause for early release. The Wayne County Historical Society production is funded by the Finger Lakes Arts Grants and Services, Inc., an organization that is supported in part with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization Program. Contact Andrea Evangelist at 946.9340, Sharon Lubitow at 946.3367 or e-mail olivercperry@aol.com
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