Jerri Shafer News

What do you do when you're a Classics professor at one of the greatest universities in America and find a long lost manuscript by Euripides that will make you famous throughout the world? You lose it, of course. And then you call on the Ancient Greek Gods of Comedy to get you out of the mess. For young professor Daphne Rain, the first surprise is that the gods show up. And the second surprise is that any two people - even if they are gods - can wreak so much havoc on one university. The Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of screwball deities encounters the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption. Written by Ken Ludwig, Directed by Cathy Cordy, Cast: Randy Benge (Dionysus), Tiarra Dapo (Daphne), Julie Emmert-Silvius (Dean Trickett), Brian Henry (Aristide/Alexsi/Ares), Lynne Rouzer (Thalia), Daniel Sawtelle (Ralph), & Heather Schultz (Brooklyn/Zoe) Performances run March 10 - 25, 2023 at Curtain Players, 5691 Harlem Road, Galena, Ohio 43021. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: http://curtainplayers.org

Murder Inn is set in New England, at the Barnsley Inn, a dilapidated eighteenth-century inn, which is supposedly haunted by Marco, a knife-throwing poltergeist. A group of tourists, on a tour - Ghosts and Ghouls of New England - is forced, by a storm, to make an unscheduled stop at the Barnsley. Performances run Mar. 10 - 26, 2023 at Little Theatre Off Broadway, 3981 Broadway, Grove City, Ohio 43123. Order Reserved Seating Tickets at the link: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/70961

'Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek....' And thus begins the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside a wisecracking Donkey and a feisty princess who resists her rescue. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you've got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there's one on hand... and his name is Shrek. Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film, Shrek The Musical is a Tony Award-winning fairy tale adventure, featuring all new songs from Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change) and a side splitting book by David Lindsay-Abaire. Shrek brings all the beloved characters you know from the film to life on stage and proves there's more to the story than meets the ears. Performances run March 9, 10 & 11 @ 7pm and March 11 @ 2pm at Dublin Jerome High School, 8300 Hyland-Croy Rd, Dublin, OH 43016, For tickets call 614-718-8263 or visit: https://www.showtix4u.com/events/2546

Mount Vernon Arts Consortium presented Paul Reiser: Live Stand Up Comedy on March 3, 2023. The SIRENS duo, made up of Molly Pauken & Kay Harris, has been described as eclectic, original, funky, soulful & and rockin’ opened for Paul Reiser. Upcoming shows include An Evening with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives on Saturday April 8th and The Reagan Years Dance Party on Friday, October 20th. For more info or to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.mvac.org

Based on the popular comic strip and adapted from the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Annie Jr. features everyone’s favorite little redhead in her very first adventure. With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone’s hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930’s New York City. Annie is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. Annie eventually foils Miss Hannigan’s evil machinations, finding a new home and family in billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy. Hilliard Arts Council “For Kids, By Kids” production of Annie, Jr. features the talents of over 30 very talented young actors in grades 4 to 8. Performances run Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 11am & 7pm, Sunday at 3:00pm, March 3 - 12, 2023 at Hilliard Civic and Cultural Arts Center, 5425 Center St, Hilliard, OH 43026. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.hilliardartscouncil.org/

The final collaboration between Rodgers & Hammerstein was destined to become the world's most beloved musical. Featuring a trove of cherished songs, including 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,' 'My Favorite Things,' 'Do Re Mi,' 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' and the title number, The Sound of Music won the hearts of audiences worldwide, earning five Tony Awards and five Oscars. The inspirational story, based on the memoir of Maria Augusta Trapp, follows an ebullient postulate who serves as governess to the seven children of the imperious Captain von Trapp, bringing music and joy to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria, Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral decision. The Sound of Music has become the most popular musical ever. Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, Director David Bahgat, Music Director Sarah Santilli, Choreographers Rose Babington and Noni Maddrey, Performances run March 3 - 5, 2023. At The Palace Theatre 34 W. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Please visit https://give.nationwidechildrens.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=ButterflyGuild_SoundofMusic to get specific showtimes and purchase tickets.

Ken Ludwig's celebrated adaptation is a fun, fresh take on a timeless classic tale of heroism, treachery, close escapes and, above all, honor. Sword fighting! Palace intrigue! Murder! Young love! This show has it all. By Ken Ludwig Adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. Performances are March 3 - 12, 2023, Event space at Maria’s, 129 E Main Street, Lancaster, OH 43130. Purchase tickets: https://www.thelancasterplayhouse.org/

Being an African American we celebrate our Blackness 24/7, 365. However, during February it’s a whole different story. We celebrate all the history, the music, the struggle, the journey, the beauty, the joy everything that is Blackness. Well, here’s an open invitation to see the glory that is being POC. Enjoy singing, dancing, history and poetry like you’ve never seen before.. Performances are Feb 24-25 at the UpFront Performance Space 503 S. Front Street, Columbus, OH. Tickets available at: https://tinyurl.com/53szh5tk

The stakes are higher than ever in this dynamic stage musical, as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the total annihilation of their undersea world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage. The power of optimism really can save the world! Check out photos here!

In this long-running Off-Broadway hit musical revue, Broadway's greatest musical legends meet Broadway's greatest satirist in this hilarious, loving, and endlessly entertaining tribute to some of the theatre's greatest stars and songwriters.

Mount Vernon Arts Consortium presented Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute on Feb. 4, 2023 Upcoming shows include Paul Reiser: Live Stand Up Comedy on Friday March 3rd, 2023 and An Evening with Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives on Saturday April 8th. For more info or to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.mvac.org.

Don't miss this hilarious and touching comedy about friendship through the good times and the bad. Join us at Truvy's beauty salon, where all the ladies who are 'anybody' come to have their hair done. By Robert Harling, Directed by Bruce Jacklin, performed by Bruce Jacklin & Company, the Cast includes: Courtney Decosky, Megan Bell, Kelly Lauth, Sage Szucs, CateBlair-Wilhelm, Jackie Bates Performances are Feb.3 - Mar. 4 , 2023, at The Alcove Dinner Theatre, 116 South Main St., Mount Vernon, OH 43050. For tickets or more information, visit: https://www.alcoverestaurant.com/dinner-theatre.html#/

The time is 1905, the place the Lower East Side. Sewing beautiful lingerie gives Esther, an African American seamstress, an intimate look at the love lives of her diverse clientele, but she yearns for a romance of her own. She finds herself in an epistolary courtship with a mysterious Caribbean man, though her heart secretly belongs to the Orthodox Jewish fabric merchant with whom she can never share a touch. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and MacArthur “Genius Grant” Awardee Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined), this moving portrait of love, resilience, and the triumph of the human spirit has become one of the most beloved plays of our time. By Lynn Nottage, Directed by Julie Whitney Scott Cast: Esther - Latifat Sulaimon, George - El-Ryck Kendrick, Mayme - Brooklyn Smith, Mr. Marks - Jacob Erney, Mrs. Dickson - Cathy Bean, Mrs. Van Buren - Ella Palardi, Piano Player - Kelton D Waller. Performances run Feb. 4 - 12, 2023. Gallery Players, 1125 College Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43209. Please visit https://columbusjcc.org/intimate-apparel/ to get specific showtimes and purchase tickets.

A picture is worth 1,000 words — what about a song? Can a picture inspire a song or fifteen? In 35mm, each photo creates a unique song, moments frozen in time; a glimmer of a life unfolding, a glimpse of something happening. A stunning new multimedia musical which explores a groundbreaking new concept in musical theatre... This intricately woven collection of stories told through song reimagines what the modern American musical can be.

An infamous tale, Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth-century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up... and the carnage has only just begun! This special School Edition has been masterfully adapted, working directly with Mr. Sondheim to retain the dark wit and grand scope of the original work, with a few lyric and key changes to facilitate high school productions. At the show's core is a challenging score of epic proportion with two tasty tour-de-force roles in Sweeney and his comic female accomplice, Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney Todd School Edition is sure to be the highlight of any theatre season. Performances are Feb. 3 - 5, 2023, at Lancaster Masonic Lodge, 224 South High Street, Lancaster, OH 43130. Purchase tickets: https://www.riseupartsalliance.org/

On January 27th, Vital Shift, LLC. presented Melissa Kelley's How Do We Get There from Here at Columbus Dance Theatre. Melissa Kelley explores who we are, who we want to be, and how we get there from here through an evening of song and story. Check out photos from the evening here! For more information about the show or to book a performance at your venue, contact Melissa at melissa@vitalshift.life

Curtain Players presents tick, tick...BOOM! the autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, who revolutionized theater as the creator of Rent.

Neil Simons’ farce in two acts; this play takes place on a quiet May evening at an upscale Victorian home in Palisades about twenty miles north of New York City where 4 couples are getting together for the 10th anniversary party of Charlie Brock, the Deputy Mayor of New York, and his wife, Myra. Watch as everything goes topsy-turvy from the start. Performances run Jan. 20 - Feb. 5, 2023 at Little Theatre Off Broadway, 3981 Broadway, Grove City, Ohio 43123. Order Reserved Seating Tickets at the link:https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/66825

Join us at warehouse14 for an evening (or afternoon) of one-acts in our pop-up blackbox. Limited seating, tickets $7. Directed by Mary Elizabeth Harris and Christopher Hartman. Performances are Jan 13 & 14 7:30 pm, Jan 15 2:00 pm at Warehouse14, 14 East Ohio Ave, Mount Vernon, OH 43050.

Plays by Jerrod Ward, Shivi Pallerla, Nick Hahn, Garth Wingfield, Trey Worthen and Thomas Terrell. This season's annual event features stories about an alien who visits a diner and stumbles on love, a hidden creature who snatches snacks, a support group who have a common unfortunate circumstance, strangers who meet in a waiting room, and a noir-style comedy about a detective reminiscing about one of his greatest cases ever! There is something for everyone in this evening of fast-paced entertainment! Performances run January 5, 6, & 7 @ 7pm at Dublin Jerome High School, 8300 Hyland-Croy Rd, Dublin, OH 43016, For tickets call 614-718-8263 or visit: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/69642