Albert Lea Community Theatre will open its 55th season with “Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping” from Oct. 17 to Oct. 26 at Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.

According to a press release, you’ll laugh until your side dish hurts with the hilarious antics and down-to-earth charm of the performance. 

The year is 1969, and the world is changing. As folks protest the Vietnam War and women are demanding equal pay for equal work, in their small rural Minnesota community, the ladies of the Lutheran church basement kitchen are dealing with changes of their own.
The show takes you from serving the 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 elderly 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.

Cast members are Lynn Berven, Elizabeth Harty, Lisa Sturtz, Kristi White and Sue Wiersma. The musical comedy is inspired by the books of Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson. The show is written by Greta Grosch with music and lyrics by Dennis Curley and Drew Jansen.

“Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping,” will be directed by Rory Mattson with music direction by Barb Lang. It will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25 and 26, at Marion Ross Performing Arts Center in downtown Albert Lea, with the exception of the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Oct. 20.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased at 1-877-730-3144, online at actonbroadway.com or at the box office, which opens weekdays at 9 a.m. Tickets are also available at the Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you go

What: “Church Basement Ladies 2: A Second Helping

When: at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 to Oct 19 and Oct. 23 to Oct. 26, 2 p.m. Oct. 20

Where: Marion Ross Performing Arts Center

Cost: $20 adults, $10 students