SKANEATELES - Ten years ago, there weren't many opportunities for individuals interested in theater to perform after high school ended.

So in 1998, a small group of community members formed Skaneateles Summer Theatre as a way to bring summer theater back to the village after a gap lasting nearly three decades.

Over the past nine summers, the SST productions have grown, with the first production involving a cast and crew of 40 and the current production using a cast and crew of more than 100.

Two years ago, the organization started a theater camp for junior high school students. Since then, two new camps have been added for elementary students and for high school students. And the theater group continues to grow.

This weekend, SST put on its ninth play, performing “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Kevin Shumway, who has been acting in most of the SST performances since its inception in 1998, has also been involved with professional theater.

SST, he said, is a community theater group that strives to put on shows rivaling professional-caliber performances.

“With the caliber of what you see on stage, and the quality of the productions,” Shumway said, “it takes community theater to a new level.”

All SST performances involve an orchestra - led by orchestra director Terry Squires - which Shumway said was not necessarily common in community theater performances. Orchestra members range from seventh- and eighth-graders to professional musicians, Squires said.

The quality of performance, said director Mickey Kringer, is part of what draws new performers to the group each year.

“We have a core of people who are involved,” he said, but added that the group now draws people from other areas in the region. “They come to see the show and they are very impressed with it, so they want to be involved with it.”

While some of the cast and crew have backgrounds in theater and performing arts, others are just community members who wanted an opportunity to perform. One 66-year-old man tried out for this year's “Fiddler on the Roof” performance so he could be in the play with his three sons, Kringer said.

“They all put their hearts and souls into it and have a lot of fun doing it,” he said. “There are so many talented people in the community.”

The need for a summer theater group became apparent as students in the high school drama program graduated and no longer had theater opportunities available, said Kringer, who is also the co-producer along with his wife, Janet, for all the performances. There were also several parents involved with the high school program who had expressed an interest in a community-wide group.

In its first year, the theater group, using funding through the town of Skaneateles and a grant through state Sen. John DeFrancisco, put on its first performance of “South Pacific.” Now SST is able to fully fund itself through proceeds from ticket sales and donations.

With the group's success, its performances have improved on all levels.

“As it grew, technically it got better, musically it got better,” Kringer said. “As we grow in knowledge, as we grow in ability, we incorporate that into the program.”

Shumway said there is a strong history for summer theater in Skaneateles dating back to the 1930s. It died off in the 1970s, with the exception of a few fledgling groups, he said. But SST, now in its ninth summer, has established itself as more than fleeting theater group, thus bringing summer theater back to the village.

Kringer said with SST and other community and professional groups in the area, like the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse professional summer theater, people in the region now have a lot more opportunities to see quality theater performances than they did 30 years ago.

“There was nothing,” he said. “Now there's a lot of theater around here, which is great.”

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net.