Church Basement Ladies Make Us Laugh!

Hold on to your hot pads! The Church Basement Ladies are returning to Van Wert at 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, March 6!

This talented comedic-theatre troupe has entertained nearly 8,000 patrons from the Niswonger stage and are returning for their 25th Anniversary Tour. They serve up a unique dish of laughter as they reflect the simple humor found in our everyday melodramatic lives, highlighting those contemplated in the church basement by well-intentioned souls serving up prayer and intervention.

Church Basement Ladies is a celebration of the church basement kitchen and the stalwart, stable, sturdy, ladies who live and breathe the church basement protocol while attempting to solve the problems of a rural Minnesota church.

It’s 1964 when their world and their beloved church are about to go through some major changes. The ladies are in perpetual motion as they attempt to stave off one disaster after another, and the actions between the church basement ladies and the pastor create “holy hilarity” as one watches them share and debate recipes, instruct the young, talk about hot flashes, and keep the Pastor on due course while thoroughly enjoying, (and tolerating) each other. These four ladies, with four different personalities create the perfect recipe for the “perfect storm.”

From the elderly matriarch of the kitchen whose ideas are “cemented in the past,” to the nervous bride-to-be who wants to break out of the mold, to the wife of a farmer who sometimes uses inappropriate actions and words, to the break-down of the “stable” one of the ladies, chaos, and comedy, heavily sprinkled with touching moments, is in abundance throughout the production. Audiences begin to see the Church year unfold from below the “House of God,” as they witness these ladies aptly handle a record-breaking Christmas dinner, the funeral of a dear friend, a Hawaiian-themed Easter fundraiser, and a steamingly hot July wedding.

The original production of Church Basement Ladies opened at the Plymouth Playhouse in Minneapolis, and was performed to more than 250,000 patrons, in 1,123 performances during its two and one half year run! The success of the show has been beyond phenomenal. Enthusiastic patrons, who come from all faiths and religions, echo the same sentiment when commenting on the show.

“Those same ladies live in my church basement and I can even tell you their names.” Director Wollan said, “I know these ‘Steel Magnolias’ of the church. My mother was not only one of them, but her church actually named their new kitchen stove, ‘Lorraine’, in her honor.”

These ladies needed to be honored, these ladies needed to be recognized, and the creation of the Church Basement Ladies fulfilled those needs. As Martin Luther wrote, “This is most certainly true!”

Laughter will be served up by the punch-bowl full at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center when the Church Basement Ladies arrive and show that laughter is alive in Van Wert.