{"id":124007,"date":"2019-10-19T07:45:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T12:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=124007"},"modified":"2019-10-19T07:45:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T12:45:34","slug":"review-off-stage-play-zany-entertaining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/10\/19\/review-off-stage-play-zany-entertaining\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Off Stage play zany, entertaining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JOHN VINING\/<\/strong>for the Van Wert independent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In A Doublewide, Texas Christmas<\/em>, Van Wert\u2019s Off Stage Productions introduces the community to a hilarious romp through the holiday season — a couple of months early!\u00a0This comedy, written by Jones, Hope, & Wooten, is being directed locally by Matt Krol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The cast of Off Stage Productions’ <\/strong>A Doublewide, Texas Christmas<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>photo provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to the Southwest\u2019s newest and smallest town: Doublewide, Texas (Population: 10). In the midst of working tirelessly to secure incorporation and finances to solidify Doublewide\u2019s status as a village, Mayor Joveeta Crumpler has to work with one of the wackiest groups of hamlet denizens ever assembled. Brainstorming various methods of securing recognition and dollars to maintain and advance the tiny town — including luring businesses, awards, and new residents — mayor and company engage in one outlandish stratagem after another on their way to an uncertain future. Audience members will find themselves both laughing and empathizing with the off-beat residents of Doublewide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play features a significant number of unusual monologues and dialogues among its many acts, and the large cast has a challenging task of pulling off the unique characterizations called for in this play, while the stage, lighting, and sound crews face the task of creating various locations and moods in a limited space. All succeed very, very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big Ethel Satterwhite is the local health care professional and an all-around character. Off Stage veteran Terri Stevens nails the essence of the sometimes-boisterous Big Ethel. Newcomer April Hanf is Georgia Dean Rudd, still pining for her lost love of years ago while testing the treacherous waters of small-town dating in rural Texas. Hanf is a welcome addition to the OPS family and does well in her initial performance with the troupe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lark Barken is another single who is considering delving into the dating scene, while fully occupied with a newborn baby. She also pines for a man: the father she never knew. OSP veteran Kelly Smith gives rambunctious life to the unusual and ebullient character of Lark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local character actor Ed Eichler is Haywood Sloggett, a mercurial gadfly who has seen something he shouldn\u2019t have seen, and is forever changed by it. Eichler gives one of his best performances as Haywood \u2013 audience members will find themselves following his up-and-down rollercoaster ride of emotions with glee. The source of Haywood\u2019s distress is Caprice Crumpler (played by Delores Foreman). Caprice is the village barfly who fancies herself as a star actor — a \u201clegend in her own mind.\u201d Foreman portrays the difficult Caprice with a combination of good acting and good wardrobe to create a memorable character.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Village newcomer Patsy Price (Mary Yackey) views each additional resident of Doublewide she meets with a combination of disdain and disbelief. Patsy has an ulterior motive up her sleeve, which she plays out as the production saga goes on. Yackey once again plays a unique and challenging character (something she has done many times before with OSP) with flair. Chiming in with perhaps the craziest character of all (which is saying something with this group) is Travis Nihiser as Norwayne \u201cBaby\u201d Crumpler, the local fire chief (because he knows where the village garden hose is kept). Baby not only spars with the local residents, but also with a pack of varmints determined to keep him from performing his duties. Nihiser plays one of his best roles as the \u201cchallenged\u201d (from a number of standpoints) Baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding this wild and wacky group together is hard-working town mayor Joveeta Crumpler (Amy McConn). Finding that herding cats might be easier than leading the residents of Doublewide, Crumpler faces challenges of her own — physical, managerial, social, and emotional.  Perhaps the highlight of the play is an unscripted and off-track TV commercial spot, which Mayor Crumpler \u201corchestrates\u201d to a hilarious conclusion. McConn once again provides the local theater-going audience with an outstanding performance as the harried Joveeta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Bulau, with a memorable cameo as the long-lost Nash Sloggett, and Matt Krol (off-stage voiceover) as the hilariously impudent TV producer Harley Dobbs round out the cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, Off Stage Productions\u2019 rendition of\u00a0A Doublewide, Texas Christmas<\/em> is a funny and light-hearted way to start off the holiday season.\u00a0Doublewide<\/em> is performed at Vantage Career Center, 818 N. Franklin St. in Van Wert (entrance at Door 13). The play continues tonight (gate at 6:30; dinner at 7, play at 8), Sunday, October 20 (gate 12:30: dinner 1, play at 2), Friday, October 25 (Popcorn Night: gates open at 7 p.m.; play begins at 7:30), Saturday, October 26 (gate at 6:30; dinner at 7), and Sunday, October 27 (gate 12:30: dinner 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For reservations or additional information, call 419.605.6708.      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHN VINING\/for the Van Wert independent In A Doublewide, Texas Christmas, Van Wert\u2019s Off Stage Productions introduces the community to a hilarious romp through the holiday season — a couple of months early!\u00a0This comedy, written by Jones, Hope, & Wooten, is being directed locally by Matt Krol. Welcome to the Southwest\u2019s newest and smallest town: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 07:55:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}