Oakwood Summer Theatre Company, Inc. was founded by Bill Donald in 1980. It grew out of a very strong high school drama program called Ram Theatre at Salem High School. The summer productions provided students, former students, and other interested adults with an outlet to hone their acting or theater production skills. When Bill Donald left Salem, Tom Mason took over as managing director of Oakwood Summer Theatre in 1987. For most of the life of the company, productions were held at Salem High School. Since 1997, Oakwood Summer Theatre has been in residence at the Salem Community College.

One of the purposes of the group is to produce three quality shows each summer. While the number of show has varied annually, the two basic shows each year are a musical and a children's show with children actors. The third show is often a comedy, mystery, or a children's show with adult actors participating as well.

Oakwood Summer Theatre holds numerous records in Salem County theater history:

• longest running community theater program;
• most people in attendance at one show;
• most people in attendance for an entire season;
• most people in attendance over the lifetime of the program.

In 2007, Oakwood Summer Theatre conducted its 28th season of production. Throughout its 28 year history, Oakwood Summer Theatre has worked to accomplish its mission "to further the advancement of theater in rural South Jersey by fostering, encouraging, and developing a public appreciation of theater and by providing recreational activities for participants." In those 28 years, over 71,000 people have attended Oakwood Summer Theatre productions.