‘A Second Helping’
Playhouse back for more laughs with the Church Basement Ladies
The church ladies are back and serving up more laughs when Cumberland County Playhouse presents “A Second Helping: the Church Basement Ladies Sequel.” The comedy opens Friday, April 7, at the Crossville, Tenn. theater.
“Last year’’s production of the original ‘Church Basement Ladies’ was a sold-out smash for us,” says Producing Director Bryce McDonald, “and the sequel is even funnier, so we are expecting performances to sell out quickly.”
“A Second Helping” continues the story of the same “Steel Magnolias of the Prairie,” who were introduced in the original comedy. “But you don’’t have to have seen the first show to love this second installment,” says McDonald.
“It’’s a loving tribute to those stalwart women of the church who volunteer to work in the church kitchen — those under-appreciated ladies who cook and arrange the food and coffee for weddings, youth gatherings and pot luck suppers,” says the director.
This time around, the year is 1969. As folks protest the Vietnam War and women are demanding equal pay for equal work, the ladies of the Lutheran church basement kitchen are dealing with changes
of their own with their trademark humor and hilarious antics. The show takes its audience from serving high school students at the Luther League banquet to a church-sponsored Missionary Night
and the rise and fall of a Vikings Super Bowl Sunday.
From the matriarch of the kitchen to the young mom-to-be, these women find strength in each other as they deal with the joys
and upheavals from below the house of God.
“A Second Helping” features Patty Payne as Mavis Gilmerson, Weslie Webster as Karin Engelson and Jason Ross as Pastor Gunderson. Playhouse newcomers are Bonner Church as Vivian Snustad and Caitie Moss as Beverly Engelson Hauge. The show is directed by René Pulliam with musical direction by Ron Murphy.
For more information about this show, current productions or those upcoming, check the website: www.ccplayhouse. com.