Off Stage taking new play reservations

VW independent/submitted information

Reservations opened Monday for members and Wednesday, April 3, to the public for Off Stage Productions’ next dinner theatre show: Gladys in Wonderland, a two-act comedy written by Rosemary Frisino Toohey. 

Show dates are April 19, 20, 21 and 26, 27 and 28. Saturday and Sunday performances will be dinner theatre shows. For Saturday performances, doors open at 6 p.m., with dinner at 6:30 and the show at 7:30 that evening.  For Sunday matinee performances, doors will open at 12:30 p.m., with dinner at 1 and tthe show at 2 that afternoon.  

Rockford Carry Out and Catering will once again provide the buffet meals, and cost of dinner and show will be $30. 

Both Friday performances  will again be “Popcorn Nights”, with no dinner, but popcorn included with the cost of the show.  Water and soft drinks will also be available for purchase.  

Doors open for the Friday performances at 7 p.m., with the show at 7:30 those evenings. Cost for the “Popcorn Night” performances is $16.

Performances will again be held in the Commons area at Vantage Career Center, 818 N. Franklin St. in Van Wert.  Enter Door 13 off the back parking lot, where plenty of parking is available. 

A synopsis of the show is as follows: 87-year-old Gladys’ days of munching doughnuts and scouring the obituaries seem numbered when Death himself comes knocking on her door one morning. Ready to whisk her off into the great unknown, her cheerful grim reaper (Mort) is startled by Gladys’ stubborn refusal to expire.

In order to push Gladys toward the light, he ushers in a parade of obnoxious friends and relatives who nitpick and whine. He also gives her a taste of nursing home life from an inmate’s point of view. Suddenly, the afterlife doesn’t look so bad…  

Cast: 
Gladys Overmeyer — StephanieWagner 
Doris — Emily Smith 
Mort — Travis Nihiser    
Frank — Ed Eichler 
Karen — Yessi Lau  
Dennis/Henry — Matt Rau  
Mildred/Ethel — Lisa Eichler 
Lillian — Dolores Foreman 
Myrna — Jami Sons-Beard 

The director is Daniel Sanderson, with Julie Lang in charge of costuming. 

For seat or table reservations, call the box office at 419.605.6708. Box office hours are  Monday through Saturday, noon-6 p.m. (no Sunday calls, please).