Every now and then, a special moment comes along—one you can’t quite explain. Call it chance. Call it fate. Call it destiny. Off Broadway Players Ron Smith, Seth Simmers, and Terri Hoover recently had one such moment. To them, and to the hearts of those they touched, there was no doubt about it. It was the hand of God.
What started out as simply the first production in the 2026 OBP schedule soon became something much more than anyone expected.
Although Terri had planned to take a year-long break from directing, when Ron asked her to consider directing Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, she agreed. Ron and fellow OBP actor Seth Simmers were cast in the two roles, and, along with Terri, they gathered for their first read-through.
Ron and Seth have shared the stage for years, but this play proved different from the start.
“We couldn’t get through the first reading without tears,” Ron recalls.
Eventually, the two realized they needed a new approach if they were going to perform the show successfully.
“We had to learn to read the script straight, without emotion at first,” Ron explains. “Once we could do that, we were able to add the emotion back in at the right moments.”
Seth let the emotion flow back in organically. He says, “Honestly, I didn’t wade through it—I let it happen. When you’re fully present, you can’t hold the emotion back, especially when the story connects to real life. It stopped being about performing and became something personal I was living through each night.”
Director, Terri Hoover held on to the initial emotional roller coaster for the duration. She says, “This was tough. We started with table reads and just allowed ourselves to feel all the emotions and let them loose. Then I had to get tactical so I could place them on stage and move them appropriately. I can’t say we ever let go of the emotion, because I was still crying up until the last performance.”
But that’s only the beginning of the story.
The production was planned as a traveling show, with performances scheduled at Court Square Theatre and the Sipe Center in Bridgewater. But just three days after signing their contract, Court Square Theatre announced it would be closing.
Suddenly, the group was without a venue.
“It was the day before Christmas break when I called Tonya at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School to see if we could possibly reserve the school stage for the first performance, I told her she could get back to me after break—but an hour later, she called and said the school was available for the dates the theatre requested.”
Problem solved—but the story wasn’t finished yet.
While listening to a Broadway High School basketball game on the local Gobblers Sports Network, Ron noticed a fundraising announcement. The online broadcasting network was raising money for local coach Tim Turner, who had been diagnosed with ALS—the same disease Morrie faces in the play.
Ron smiled as he remembered the sudden revelation. “And then God said, ‘Do you get it now?’”
Ron and Terri immediately knew what they needed to do.
The play would become a fundraiser for Tim Turner and his family.
All proceeds from the performances would be donated to help with medical expenses—of which there are many.
Tim’s wife, Robin, describes ALS as “the bankruptcy disease.” When Tim was forced to stop working, Robin left her job to care for him.
As rehearsals continued, Ron formed a close bond with the Turner family—especially with Tim.
“I told Tim he used to be a baseball coach, but now he was my acting coach.”
The Turners attended the final rehearsal, of Tuesdays With Morrie, and afterward, Tim had just one piece of feedback: Ron’s performance was “spot on.”
Ron says the show not only stretched his emotions, but also his acting skills. “As an actor it was an emotional challenge to be the character and to make it real for each audience. The good thing about the play is that it has humor in it too. Nobody wants to sit for an hour and a half and be depressed.”
The play also presented unique challenges for the director.
“Once I sat down, I didn’t get back up,” Ron said. “It’s a challenge to make a play like this visually interesting. Talking plays can feel like radio—but when people come to the theater, they want something to watch.”
Terri comments, “Since Morrie is immobile for more than half the show, the idea was to keep Mitch moving. When the topic of conversation became uncomfortable Mitch would step forward and Morrie would remain in the background as his conscience. When Morrie really needed Mitch, he would kneel down to his level and of course we used Mitch to fetch any items needed. By keeping a pattern of Mitch’s movements and giving them purpose it kept the eye moving around the stage without seeming random.”
The set design added another layer of difficulty. With the production moving between venues, it had to be simple, portable, and effective—all while supporting a deeply emotional story.
In the end, though, it wasn’t the set or even the performance that mattered most.
It was the impact.
What started as a play became something much bigger—a moment where faith, community, and compassion came together in an unexpected way.
Seth says, “Every character teaches me to see things from a different perspective, but Mitch Albom challenged me more than any role I’ve played. Through the process, I gained a deeper understanding of why people react the way they do when they’re faced with situations they don’t know how to handle.”
The story also held an even more personal connection for Seth. “My grandmother went home to be with the Lord about a year ago, and doing this show made me realize I didn’t have to wait until it was too late to learn those lessons. And my co-star, Ron Smith, truly is my real-life Morrie—he helped shape me into the actor I am today.”
Terri found that she too felt the power of the show long after the last curtain call. “Normally when I’m in a play the emotion is almost gone by the end from rehearsing and doing it over and over. This show was different because we never lost the humanity side of it. We had a real-life role model in Tim Turner, and we wanted to do our best every single night to make him proud. I’m so proud to live in a community that comes together when needed and take care of one of our members. In theatre we refer to ourselves as a theatre family and Tim and Robin are definitely now members of our family.”
And for Ron Smith, it’s a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful stories aren’t the ones written on a page…
They’re the ones that unfold right in front of us.
