THEATER WOB presents musical comedy

‘Church Basement Ladies’

Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre will bring a hilarious little musical to the stage this spring. “Church Basement Ladies” will begin its run on March 31. In the show, audiences find themselves in 1965 rural Minnesota, where the ladies of the local Lutheran church fortify their flock with love, wisdom and the food they prepare in the church’s basement kitchen. In “Church Basement Ladies,” we meet the pastor, three cooks, and one daughter who run the kitchen and care for the congregation. This funny musical comedy sees the four women handle a Lutefisk Dinner, a funeral, an Easter Fundraiser and a wedding.

Way Off Broadway’s cast includes Beka Burgoon as Signe Engelson, Melis- sa Ann Martin as Mavis Gilmerson, Hannah Pecoraro as Vivian Snustad, Laura Walling as Karyn Engelson and Jordan B. Stocksdale as Pastor Gunderson. The show is directed and staged by WOB executive producer Bill Kiska, with music direction by Jordan B. Stocksdale.

The production runs March 31 to May 20, with performances every Friday and Saturday evening and matinees on the first, third and fifth Sunday of each month. A special matinee has been added for Mother’s Day on May 14. Tickets for a Friday evening or Sunday Matinee performance are $55, with Saturday evening tickets costing $59. Tickets may be purchased by calling 301-662-6600. Learn more at wayoffbroadway.com.

When crime comes to CraftTown, assistant manager Scotty DelRio finds a purpose. Can Scotty construct a new identity as a P.I. and sleuth his coworkers’ secrets while keeping his own? Comedy and mystery collide in the mid-size retail noir “CraftTown,” by local playwright and MET Ensemble member Lydia Hadfield.

Director Jeremy Myers describes “CraftTown” as a satirical nod and homage to noir, a coming-of-age origin story, a queer story. “I mostly focus on CraftTown being a memory play,” he says. “The audience is seeing the events unfold through a retelling. We’re watching these memories manifest and come to life. We are living through the experience and memories of our protagonist, Scotty. Scotty happens to be trans. Though the story really doesn’t focus on this, because we are watching these retold events through his perspective, the story is inherently a queer story. Memories can be fragmented and events sometimes slightly altered or exaggerated in our retelling — consciously or subconsciously. That idea gives us a foundation to play within a heightened reality. Scotty navigates us between present-day narrations and jumping into the re-lived events unfolding on stage.”

CraftTown marks the first production to utilize the alley seating configuration in the newly renovated Robin Drummond Mainstage at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre. The MET has a rich history of devised and original works written by local playwrights thanks to METLab and Plays in Progress programming.

Playwright Lydia Hadfield says the play “certainly owes something to comedic rhythms I practiced in the MET’s Ensemble School improv troupe as a teenager. … There’s no joy quite like witnessing a talented group of people bring their own creativity to my script, granting the play its own life beyond the page.”

The cast includes MET Ensemble members AJ George-Wright as Scotty DelRio, Julie Herber as Barb, Lauren Johnson as Lindsay, Mallorie Stern as Kayla, Laura Stark as Big Kate, Karli Cole as Shay, Stephen Craig as Smartphone and Jean Rosolino as Paulette.

“CraftTown” opens March 31and runs through April 23, with a $15 preview night on March 30. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. at Sunday matinees. ASL Interpretation will be provided on March 31. Audio description services can be arranged in advance through the box office.

Tickets are $32 for adults, $30 for adults 65 and up and military, and $15 for students. A limited number of Pay What You Will tickets are available for each performance starting at $5 each, while inventory lasts. Tickets may be purchased by phone at 301-694- 4744, online at marylandensemble.org, or in person at the MET at 31 W. Patrick St., Frederick.