Tie-dyed shirts, hippie hairstyles and other signs of the 1960s will be center stage at Dayton’s Odeon Hall, where Misfits Theater Group will stage its next production.
Written by Tony R. Thornburg, “The Love Child” will play at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings, Oct. 14, 15, 21 and 22.
The comedy mostly takes place in a coffeehouse where the owner, played by Andra Woolman, bakes brownies containing a “special ingredient.”
Meanwhile, a widowed heroine, played by Erin Copp, soon finds herself at odds with a black hearted attorney, played by Pete Wyatt. He schemes to have the court find her to be an unfit mother and take her child. Fortunately, the show’s hero, played by Mike Cline, takes her case and wins the custody battle as well as her love.
The attorneys duke it out in front of a crazy judge, played by Mark Meszaros. Other actors to be featured include: Maureen Hopkins, Joy Hanssen, Cindy Pardini, and Tom Radabaugh.
With about 30 members, the nonprofit theater group stages plays written by the actors who perform them.
“We started out with melodramas, now we perform comedies,” said Kay Thornburg, cofounder and president of the group’s Board of Directors. “We kind of make up our own, they’re kind of melodramatic.”
Thornburg and her husband, Tony, founded the group in 2004 after moving from California and finding a paltry theater scene in Dayton.
“There wasn’t a theater group in Dayton at the time. We rehearsed in my living room while we looked for a venue to perform in.”
The group puts on its shows in Dayton’s historic Odeon Hall, 65 Pike St., where the audience is encouraged to boo, hiss and cheer.
Proceeds from each show go to area charities. “The Love Child” will benefit the Dayton Senior Center and Dayton Food Pantry.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. To buy tickets for $10 each, call Carol at 775-246-9622.
For more information about Misfits Theater Group, go to www.misfitstheatergroup.org.