Country music propels 'Angels'

Jana Horton, Sherry Shipley, and Loni Smith play young singers hoping to make it big in Nashville in the Williams County Community Theater s The Honky Tonk Angels.

The success of last year's production of Always Patsy Cline led the Williams County Community Theater to believe that it was on to a good thing.

"We enjoyed doing it so much, we thought we'd do the sequel," says Dee Swanson, who is directing The Honky Tonk Angels, which opens tonight in Bryan.

Technically, it's not a sequel, because it doesn't continue the previous story.

But it is from the same playwright, Ted Swindley; it does feature country music; and the three characters are loosely based on Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette.

Basically, the story is about three young singers - Angela (played by Sherry Shipley), Darlene (Jana Horton), and Sue Ellen (Loni Smith) - hoping to make it big in Nashville. When success doesn't come their way individually, they join forces, creating a Dixie Chicks kind of group.

There's a little bit of dialogue to propel the story, Swanson says, and a whole lot of music, including "Stand By Your Man," "Coal Miner's Daughter," "9 to 5," "Amazing Grace," and "These Boots were Made for Walkin'."

Responding to the requests of theater-goers, WCCT is offering a dinner-theater package tonight-Sunday for an extra $15 a person. Doors for the dinner open 90 minutes before the show.

The Williams County Community Theater is presenting "The Honky Tonk Angels" through April 9 in the Little Theater Off the Square, 208 West Butler St., Bryan. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and April 2. An additional 8 p.m. show is scheduled on April 9. Tickets are $15. Information: 419-485-3861.

Ohio Northern University's department of theater will present its fourth annual International Play Festival Wednesday through April 2 in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts in Ada.

Playwrights Adriana Genta of Argentina and Gustavo Ott of Venezuela have been commissioned to each write a play for the festival, and they will be in residence during the performances to participate in public lectures and private classes.

Otto Minera of Mexico will direct Genta's Shattered Stories, a work of realism set in an Argentinian prison, and Ott's abstract 120 Lives a Minute, set on an airplane.

Performances in the International Play Festival are scheduled at 8 p.m. Wednesday through March 31, 2 and 8 p.m. April 1, and 2 p.m. April 2 at the Freed Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Ohio Northern University. A preshow "informance" is scheduled at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, and a post-show discussion is scheduled March 30. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Information: 419-772-1900.

●Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, a tale of love, deceit, and ambition, is scheduled at 8 p.m. today and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Joe E. Brown Theatre in University Hall at Bowling Green State University.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. Information: 419-372-2719.

●The Broadway in Lima series continues with The Will Rogers Follies at 8 tonight in the Veterans Memorial Civic & Convention Center, 7 Town Sq., Lima.

Tickets are $45. Information: 419-224-1552 or 888-377-0641.

Contact Nanciann Cherry at ncherry@theblade.com

or 419-724-6130.