The four performances are offered as a free experience for the community, but advance tickets are required and attendance will be limited to 75 participants per show. Tickets may be obtained at any SUNY Oswego box office location, online at tickets.oswego.edu or by calling the Artswego office at 315-312-4581. 

Working outside conventional theater settings, Third Rail's trio of artistic directors, Zach Morris, Tom Pearson and Jennine Willett, draw creative energy from the architecture they inhabit -- both its shape and history. Visiting Oswego last spring, the team was struck by the potential of the storied regional landmark.

Descending into the winding stone corridors that ring the historic property, the creative team envisioned evening performances in which audience members would be guided from place to place, above and below ground.

"They'll be invited to experience the site in a completely different way," said Pearson.

"'Anthem' is cinematic in scope, but will invite unusually close interaction between the artists and audience," he said. "Normal theatrical distances will be breached, and everyone enveloped within the creative experience." 

That sense of immersion in the performance is what sets Third Rail Projects apart. "Then She Fell," the company's Bessie Award-winning exploration of the world of Lewis Carroll, was described in Vogue Magazine's "Best of 2013 Theater" feature as "haunting, hallucinatory and profoundly intimate."

While that production continues its extended New York City run, all three of Third Rail Projects' artistic directors and four additional dancers will take part in a five-day residency in Oswego culminating in the performances at Fort Ontario. 

"It's a wonderful partnership between this innovative company, SUNY Oswego and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation," said John Shaffer, director of the Artswego Performing Arts Series. "It demonstrates what a multi-faceted regional resource an historic site of this significance can be."

Ample free parking is available at Fort Ontario. Audience members are advised to dress appropriately for conditions, anticipating weather exposure during movement between varied performance locations inside the site.

For videos, photos and more information on Third Rail Projects and other performances in the SUNY Oswego series, visit oswego.edu/arts.