When the Fountain Square players stepped on stage last night to perform “Down an Alley Filled with Cats,” it kicked off the 168th play they’ve performed in their 31-year history, said Bill Russell, a charter member of Fountain Square Players.

Russell will be starring in the play as a bookshop owner named Timothy Timmony, he said.

“The Players are looking for award-winning plays when they choose the performances for the seasons,” Russell said. “This particular play has won the award for best Australian play.”

“Down an Alley Filled with Cats” debuted Thursday night at the Phoenix Theatre, 545 Morris Alley. The Fountain Square Players will perform it again at 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Russell said.

Bill Leonard is a retired head of the theater department at Western and a charter member of Fountain Square Players. He directed the group’s first play in 1978 and stars opposite Russell in “Down an Alley Filled with Cats.”

Leonard said he plays a character named Simon Matthews who goes to Russell’s character, Timmony, in search for a special book on the Napoleonic Wars. When he sees that Timmony has already sold the book, he attempts to leave but finds that they are locked inside. The pair tries to get the truth out of the other throughout their time stuck in the bookshop.

“It’s a mystery and a comedy,” Leonard said. “The audience tries to figure out what each of the characters is hiding.”

He said the plays that the Fountain Square Players perform are chosen because of genre by a reading committee, and this play was chosen because of its mysterious elements.

Kathy Wise-Leonard is directing “Down an Alley Filled with Cats,” a position she has filled about once each year since 1981.

“Everyone involved in Fountain Square Players is family to me,” she said. “I’ve known some of these people for over 30 years.”

Fountain Square Players began as a troupe that performed during the summer when Western theatre students were on vacation, Russell said. After four years of on-and-off collaboration with Western, the group became independent.

“In school, people had the opportunity to act in plays,” he said. “But there was never anything for adults who liked to act.”

After this performance, the players will begin to rehearse for “From the Mississippi Delta,” which will debut in March. They already have plans for their 32nd season, which begins next fall.

“We’re going strong,” Russell said. “I don’t think I thought it would ever become what it did, but I’m glad.”