by Michael Strawderman
While another successful season may have come to a close last month with the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Off Broadway Players are already looking ahead to next year with the recent announcement of upcoming theatrical productions for their 2025 season.
Kicking off the season in May 2025 will be the full-length comedy, The Kitchen Witches, by Caroline Smith. Isobel Lomax and Dolly Biddle are two “mature” cable-access cooking show hostesses who have hated each other for thirty years, ever since Larry Biddle dated one and married the other. When circumstances put them together on a TV show called The Kitchen Witches, the insults are flung harder than the food! Dolly’s long-suffering TV-producer son, Stephen, tries to keep them on track, but as long as Dolly’s dressing room is one inch closer to the set than Isobel’s, it’s a losing battle, and the show becomes a ratings smash as Dolly and Isobel top both Martha Stewart and Jerry Springer! Directed by Terri Hoover, The Kitchen Witches will be performed on May 16, 17, 23, & 24 @ 7:00 p.m. and May 18 & 25 @ 3:00 p.m.
Thanks to the tremendous success of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the Off Broadway Players will also be bringing another timeless musical, The Wizard of Oz, to the stage in 2025. L. Frank Baum’s timeless tale about young Dorothy Gale’s travels from Kansas over the rainbow to the magical Land of Oz will feature the iconic musical score from the classic 1939 MGM film. Directed by James D. Kiser, The Wizard of Oz will be performed on July 24, 25, 26, 31 and August 1 & 2 @ 7 p.m. and July 27 & August 3 @ 3 p.m.
The 2025 Season will wrap up with a production of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. The beloved American holiday classic comes to captivating life as a live 1940s radio broadcast. After George Bailey wishes he had never been born, an angel is sent to earth to make George’s wish come true. George starts to realize how many lives he has changed and impacted, and how they would be different if he was never there. With the help of an ensemble that brings a few dozen characters to the stage, idealistic George’s story unfolds as he considers ending his life one fateful Christmas Eve. Adapted for the stage by Joe Landry and directed by Jeff Obenschain, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play will be performed on November 14, 15, 21, & 22 @ 7 p.m. and November 16 & 23 @ 3 p.m.
The Off Broadway Players thanks all who have supported us throughout the 2024 season by attending our productions and look forward to bringing the Broadway community another exciting year of theatrical performances and opportunities in 2025. For more information on our organization, audition and performance information, and how you can get involved either onstage or “behind the scenes”, visit our website at www.offbroadwayplayersva.org.
