Wabeno Area Players

Are you interested in being a part of community theater in 2025? The Players are holding open auditions this Tuesday and Thursday to help us cast for our next season. We are looking for onstage and offstage talent to help fill the many roles needed to make a production work. Please join us at the Wabeno Town Hall at 6pm on Tuesday the 3rd or Thursday the 5th and see how you can help your local community theater!

Thank you to everyone who attended our performances this last weekend! Your attendance and enjoyment of these shows helps keep community theater alive in the Northwoods.

If you are interested in the future of the Players, you can attend next week’s annual meeting. We will be discussing the next year’s shows, make board elections, and looking at the last year. The meeting will be held at 4521 N Branch St apt#3 Wabeno, WI at 6pm.

Join us today, October 4th-7th, for an unforgettable performance of “Mom’s Gift!”

Tickets are available at the door or by clicking here.

Wabeno Area Players Present the Heart-Warming Comedy, Mom’s Gift

October is a great month to attend a feel good, uplifting comedy! The Wabeno Area Players are eager to fill that need! On Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5, at 7:00pm and Sunday, October 6, at 2:00pm, the Players proudly present Mom’s Gift at the Nancy Volk Auditorium, at 4325 Branch Street in Wabeno.

This hilarious heartfelt comedy, written by Phil Olson, is set in a suburb of Minneapolis during a Vikings-Packers game. As the game progresses in the den and a birthday party in the dining room, we are introduced to a family with relationships that are a bit dysfunctional. The show opens with “Kat” (Maline Enders), the adult daughter of “Dad” (Josh Jameson), attending his 60th birthday party, by court order, as part of an anger management program to avoid criminal charges. They last saw each other 11 months ago at Mom’s funeral. Also attending the party are Kat’s younger sister “Brittney” (Katie Esserman), a Hooter’s waitress, neighbors “Kevin” (RJ Chickey) and naughty Mrs. Norquist (Linda Harter), and “Trish” (Lori Mattern), who was Mom’s nurse for the few weeks before she died.

Aside from Kat’s court-ordered therapy, the most unusual thing about the party is that it is also attended by “Mom’s Ghost” (Margi Diny). Mom, who has a wonderful sense of humor even in stressful family times, can only be seen and heard by Kat, who understandably thinks she’s losing it. Mom has been sent to fulfill a “mission” before she can earn her wings, but how she is to do it is a mystery Mom has to figure out.. Further surprises are revealed through family secrets.

Mom’s Gift is influenced by the play, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which Clarence earns his wings. It is filled with witty and hilarious dialogue, concerning numerous family themes. The play is under the direction of Carol Bartlein. Clare Huisman is dialogue assistant. Jan Volk and Vicki Delaski are lighting technicians. Sound technicians is Jessica Maass . Dave Zuleger designed and constructed the set. Linda Boatright is the stage manager. Linda Zuleger is the manager of volunteers.

Tickets are available online, at www.wabenoareaplayers.org. Follow the prompts to buy tickets. Tickets will also be available at the door beginning one hour before each show. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for adults. Theater doors open 30 minutes before the show. The show is PG-13. Come and enjoy another Wabeno Area Players comedy; it is sure to leave you planning on attending their next production!

The Wabeno Area Players are looking for actors to fill our Tall Tales Readers Theater cast for “Paul Bunyan” and also “Pecos Bill with Sluefoot Sue”, which we will perform at Wabeno’s WamFest. Are you an articulate and expressive reader? Do you want a low-risk introduction to being on the stage? Readers Theater might be a great way to join The Players.

Tryouts are June 4 and 5 at 6:00pm at the Wabeno Public Library. Scripts are available to check out for two days at a time at the Wabeno Public Library. If you have questions, please call Carol Bartlein @ 715-473-5466. Leave a message and she will return your call.

Please join us for the fun theater has to offer!