Cast
In Order of Appearance
Mrs. Lars Snustad (Vivian): Autumn O’Ryan
Mrs. Gilmer Gilmerson (Mavis): Jessica Bradish
Mrs. Elroy Engelson (Karin): Dorian Chalmers
Miss Signe Engelson: Tara Borman
Pastor E.L. Gunderson: Tim Drake
Understudies: For Mrs. Lars Snustad (Vivian): Janet Paone; for Mrs. Gilmer Gilmerson (Mavis): Dorian Chalmers; for Mrs. Elroy Engelson (Karin): Roxanne Britz; for Pastor E.L. Gunderson: Gregory Eiden; for Miss Signe Engleson: Jeanna Zenz
Production Team
Directed By: Curt Wollan
Music Direction: Dennis Curley
Choreography: Wendy Short Hays
Set and Prop Design: Erica Zaffarano
Costumer: Trina Benedict
Lighting Design: Scot R. Herbst
Sound Design: Ryan Milligan
Stage Manager: Ella Egan
Exclusive Tour Management: Art Fegan Entertainment, Nashville, TN, artfegan.com
Special Thanks: Pastor Gary Olson and Lakeview Lutheran Church, Edina Morningside Community Church UCC, Luther Seminary Archives, ARCA Minnesota, Pastor George Gilbertson and St. Andrews Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, MN, Zion Lutheran Church, Grand Rapids, Minn., Suzann Nelson and Janet Letnes Martin, Thrivent Financial Lutheran Services, Wonder Bread Bakery (helps build strong bodies in 12 ways!), IKEA Restaurant for not bothering us while we worked on the script in the far corner, and Joanne Deter who said "Curt, you should call those Lutheran ladies."
Production Management
Production Manager: Ryan Milligan
Company Manager: Jessica Bradish
Technical Director: Tyler O’Brien
Wardobe Supervisor: Autumn O’Ryan
General Manager: John Tsafoyannis
Bus Company: Mayo Tours, Inc.
Trucking Company: StageCall, Inc.
Hotel Room Coordinator: Lexie Wollan Swenson
Attorney: Faegre, Baker & Daniels LLP
Accounting: Brockman Marchan, Ltd.
Mavis & Company Manager
Jessica Bradish
is thrilled to be joining the cast of
Church Basement Ladies! Originally from Des Moines, she received a BFA in musical theatre performance from Wagner College in NYC. Past favorite roles include Retta Cupp in the national tour of
Pump Boys and Dinettes, Lee in
Cowgirls at Pioneer Theatre Company in Utah, Christmas Past in the National Tour of
A Christmas Carol, and of course seven seasons as a Burning Hills Singer in
The Medora Musical! Love and thanks to Ryan, Babba, and all of her friends and family for their support.
Pastor–understudy
Gregory Eiden
is grateful, as always, to be a part of
Church Basement Ladies. Recently, he produced his original musical,
War Of The Worlds,
A Tribute to Old-Time Radio. Some favorite shows have been:
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,
Almost Maine,
Tony ’n Tina’s Wedding,
A Year with Frog and Toad;
Sisters of Swing; and
A Charlie Brown Christmas. Other musicals he’s written are:
SuperHero: The Musical from The Cubicle,
Gift Of The Magi and
Ice Fish’n Op’ner. As always, he wishes to thank his parents for their love and support.
Master Electrician
James Eischen
Lighting Design:
The Medora Musical (2019-21);
Superman Becomes Lois Lane (History Theatre);
Jekyll & Hyde National Tour (Touring Theater Associates);
Ring of Fire National Tour (Troupe America Inc.); Numerous productions at: Troupe America, Lyric Arts Anoka, Normandale Community College, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Umbrella Collective, Old Log, Plymouth Playhouse, Maples Rep, Duluth Playhouse, Lyric Opera of the North, Festival Opera, University of Minnesota–Duluth, Seventh House Collective. Teaching: University of Minnesota–Duluth, Lighting Faculty (2013-16). Training: BFA, University of Minnesota–Duluth, Theater Arts: design/technical.
Production Manager/ Sound Design
Ryan Milligan
is a freelance production manager, sound designer/engineer, and musician based out of Astoria, N.Y. His previous work for Troupe America includes the national tours of
CBL 5 and 6 and
Pump Boys and Dinettes. He is also production manager and sound designer for Troupe America's sister company, StageWest Entertainment, and
The Medora Musical in Medora, N.D. Other work includes the Professional Performing Arts School, 54 Below, and Gamiotics Inc. in NYC, Rave On Productions and the Nebraska Theater Caravan's National Tour of
A Christmas Carol in Omaha, Neb., and The Old Creamery Theatre Company in Amana, Iowa.
Choreographer
Wendy Short Hays
has been associated with Troupe America for over 20 years. In that time, she has choreographed such favorites as
A Day in Hollywood,
A Night In The Ukraine,
Nunsense,
Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?,
Pump Boys And Dinettes,
1940’s Radio Hour, and
Diamond Studs, for which she earned the Twin Cities Drama Critic Award for choreography. She was on the writing team for
The Lovely Liebowitz Sisters and her original choreography of
Pump Boys And Dinettes has been produced over 24 times locally, on national tour, and for an extended run at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. She is the Artistic Director of VISTA Productions which was chosen from over 400 applicants to represent Minnesota at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work has also been seen on the stage of
The Medora Musical, Artistry Theatre, Hey City Stage, Great American History Theatre and numerous national tours. She is a member of SDC union.
Composer/ Lyricist
Drew Jansen
recently moved back to Little Rock following 35 years as an honorary Minnesotan. In addition to
Church Basement Ladies, Jansen penned the score for
How To Talk Minnesotan and many other musicals. He played Ernie on Comedy Central’s cult classic
Let’s Bowl!, and, following a 26-year hiatus, returned as a writer/composer for season 13 of the Peabody Award-winning
Mystery Science Theater 3000. Jansen continues to enjoy commercial work (on-camera and voice-over), playing and singing for private functions, and traveling Arkansas and the world with his husband, entertainer Jimmy Martin.
Co-Author of Growing Up Lutheran
Janet Letnes Martin
and the late Suzann Nelson’s co-authored book,
Growing Up Lutheran, is the inspiration for the wildly popular
Church Basement Ladies musicals. She is a humorist who has written and/or co-authored 20 bestselling books about her Norwegian/American Lutheran upbringing in Hillsboro, N.D. A graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, she has been speaking and entertaining audiences for 35 years. Her passion is genealogy, and it has helped her to figure out why she thinks and acts the way she does! This widowed mother of three daughters, and grandmother to seven grandchildren, lives in Hastings, Minn.
Co-Author of Growing Up Lutheran
Suzann Nelson
could put “ditto” under Letnes Martin’s bio. Their books and performances as the humorous duo
Those Lutheran Ladies draw upon life experiences growing up as hardworking, church attending, 100-percent Norwegian-Lutheran farm girls. This is the nucleus of the heartwarming
Church Basement Ladies musicals. She attended universities in Minnesota and Oslo, directed a Norwegian language camp, and wrote curricula. Changing from jeans into three-piece suits, she dabbled in government, wrote public policy reports, and struggled to put on pantyhose. In time, humidity and hot flashes prompted her to team up with Letnes Martin for her next act. By then, Nelson, husband Ron, and daughters Senja and Siri, lived in Grand Rapids, Minn. After widowhood set in, she started her online bookstore
www.ruralroutebookstore.com. She spent her days looking for misplaced things and laughing with her four grandkids, and her nights were spent pondering her mortgage. She quite unexpectedly passed away on March 14, 2021, and her children have since found her misplaced things and are thankful her legacy lives on in the
Church Basement Ladies performances. Her online bookstore remains active, and her grandkids are still laughing at their grandma’s antics.
Producer/Director
Curt Wollan
is the executive producer and director of Troupe America, Inc., that for 40 years ran the Plymouth Playhouse in the Minneapolis/St Paul area, premiering such hits as
How To Talk Minnesotan, The Musical,
The Lovely Liebowitz Sisters, and the entire
Church Basement Ladies series of musicals. In the summer, he produces and directs the famous
Medora Musical in Theodore Roosevelt National Park which in the past year has been featured on
NBC Nightly News, the Travel Channel,
MSNBC, and received a two-page spread in the Sunday
New York Times. Wollan has produced and directed many national tours including
Steel Magnolias,
Driving Miss Daisy,
The 1940’s Radio Hour,
Hank Williams–Lost Highway starring Jason Petty, and Stephen King's
Ghost Stories. He has also co-produced three national tours of
Forbidden Broadway, directed
M*A*S*H*'s Jamie Farr and William Christopher in the national tour of
The Odd Couple, and directed the national tours of
Moon Over Buffalo starring Gavin MacLeod,
The Sunshine Boys starring Dick Van Patten and Frank Gorshin, and
Same Time, Next Year, starring Mackenzie Phillips and Adrian Zmed. As a free-lance director, his work has been seen at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, Theatre Under The Stars in Houston, The Barter Theatre, Kansas City's New Theatre Restaurant, and at Dollywood where he directed several productions with Dolly Parton. He is the recipient of the Twin Cities Kudos Award for direction of
Diamond Studs, Indianapolis’s Mitty Award for Best Musical
Ring of Fire, AARP’S 50 Over 50 Award, and Luther College’s Distinguished Service Award.
