THE ADDAMS FAMILY to Open at Stage West Playhouse

Stage West Playhouse will present THE ADDAMS FAMILY, opening October 16 and continuing through October 25 in Spring Hill. Directed by Brady Lay, with music direction by Osorio 'Os' Duraes and choreography by Lori Kohan, the production brings Charles Addams' beloved characters to the stage for two weekends this Halloween season.

Featuring a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, the musical finds Wednesday Addams facing a development her family could scarcely have anticipated: she has fallen in love with a perfectly respectable young man. Worse still, she wants their families to have dinner together.

Wednesday confides in her father, leaving Gomez in the uncomfortable position of keeping a secret from Morticia. When the Beinekes arrive, the effort to get through one ordinary evening sets both households on a collision course. Beneath the macabre humor is a familiar family predicament: children grow up, parents struggle to adjust, and everyone has a different idea of what counts as normal.

Katherine Hines plays Wednesday opposite Emmett Young as Lucas Beineke. Cameron Gotay and Mary Davis lead the Addams household as Gomez and Morticia, joined by Bryson Davis as Pugsley, Anthony Agnelli as Uncle Fester, Cassidy Stevenson as Grandma, and Brian Brijbag as Lurch. Victoria Rooney and Tim Audette portray Lucas' parents, Alice and Mal Beineke.

For Lay, the production also marks a return to a theatre he describes as 'a home away from home.'

'With each cast from each show that I am involved in, my family grows,' Lay writes in his program note. 'This cast and crew is a mixture of old family members mixed with some new ones.'

A local fine arts educator with 17 years of teaching experience, Lay currently serves as Theatre Director at Springstead High School. His previous directing work at Stage West includes Dracula: The Musical.

The production marks Duraes' first musical as lead music director. Their background includes work as an actor, orchestrator, composer, assistant music director, and audio engineer. Kohan returns following a HAMI Award for Best Choreographer for Cabaret. She has performed in more than 60 productions and has taught dance at Stage West's Children's Summer Theater Camp for the past four years.

The company's ghostly Ancestors are played by Hadley Baroudi, Connor Borges Jiménez, Sol Borges Jiménez, Brooklyn Brijbag, Natalie Brijbag, Sawyer Brijbag, Allexis Wolfe, Ophelia 'Gutz' DeBarge, S'Mya Duncan, Zane Dyer, Kaitlyn Eddy, Brooke Gerbino, Joseph Johnson, Josh McNab, Sarah Norford, Cadence Pagan, and Hailey Stevenson.

That ensemble brings together returning Stage West performers, younger actors, and artists whose work extends to other area theatres. The family connections reach beyond the characters, too, with relatives sharing the stage in a production built around the complications and comforts of belonging.

Stage West has operated as an all-volunteer organization since its inception. Its productions draw on the work of performers, backstage crews, technical volunteers, ushers, concession workers, and others who keep the theatre running. In his program note, Lay offers particular thanks to the parents and adult volunteers whose work helped make this production possible.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY will be performed October 16-18 and October 23-25, 2026, at Stage West Playhouse, 8390 Forest Oaks Boulevard, Spring Hill, Florida 34606. Tickets and performance information are available at stagewestplayhouse.org or by calling 352-683-5113.