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The Church Basement Ladies are back!

Presented by Actor’s Studio on Stage and WILLow LeaVes of Hope, “Church Basement Ladies – A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement” a dinner-theatre presentation is set to debut at 7 p.m. Friday as the show opens for what is starting to look like a two-week run.

“We encourage everyone to make their reservations now,” says the show’s producer and director Naomi Fleetwood-Pyle, as the show's announcement was met with greater reception than was anticipated leading to additional dates being added to meet demand.

Set in 1960 rural Minnesota, this installment of the ladies’ story widow Vivian Snustad, played by by Christell Tallent, farmer Mavis Gilmerson, portrayed by Falicia Bowser, and wife and mother Karin Engelson, played by Angie Cunningham, return and love is in the air as Karin’s daughter, Beverly, portrayed by Faith Talkington, experiences coming of age with her confirmation in the Lutheran faith as mom tearily looks on.

While mom is being weepy, the other ladies are fueled by the excitement over the Pastor's pending wedding with the basement abuzz with activity.

And, of course, the ladies are seemingly oblivious to the obvious as their conversations center on sweets and song instead of situations and soul mates.

Meanwhile, the Pastor Gunderson, played by Brian Heaton, is getting ready to say, “I do,” for the second time and Vivian isn’t so sure about the soon-to-be Mrs. Number Two. 

Running about two hours – including intermission – the Church Basement Ladies are hard at work in their basement fortress preparing food, making the wedding cake, and doing what they do best according to the Pastor, “keep on living their lives.”

From learning how to drive to learning to love again, this play is sentimental and takes the audience on many different emotional avenues, Pyle says.

“There are some funny lines and really cool songs,” Pyle says. “I just like the Church Basement Ladies series.”

And the audiences do, too.

Having already debuted the first two installments of the series on the WILLow LeaVes Stage to sold out crowds a couple of years ago, this chapter has been met with a familiar audience hungry for more and anxious to see what the ladies are up to now.

With everything going on in the world today, laughter is a welcomed expression, Pyle says.

“Sometimes it is just nice to get away for a couple of hours and enjoy yourself without worry,” Pyle says. “I want people to have a good meal, enjoy themselves and walk out of there feeling warm and fuzzy and thinking, ‘Boy, that was a good time!’”

What: The Church Basement Ladies in “A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement” presented by Actor’s Studio on Stage and WILLow LeaVes of Hope.
Where: 326 Jackson St., downtown Hope
When: August 14, 15, 16, 21 and (22 and 23 by demand) – Friday, Saturday shows 7 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; Dinner at 6 p.m.); Sunday Matinee at 2 p.m. (Doors open at 12:30 p.m. and Dinner at 1 p.m.)
Cost: $40 per person (includes dinner and show)
* For Reservations, call 812-341-7251.