Hanover Little Theatre (HLT) is excited to announce the four shows in the 2023-24 season, the 75th for Hanover’s only all-volunteer community theatre. For more information on the current or upcoming season, contact HLT at info@hanoverlittletheatre.com or call 717-637-5297.
Very special Thank You to our 75th Anniversary Season Sponsor:
Leading Ladies (Ken Ludwig)
Directed by: Shane Miller
Two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the relatives aren’t nephews, but nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady’s vivacious niece, Meg, who’s engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there’s a wide world out there, but it’s not until she meets “Maxine and Stephanie” that she finally gets a taste of it.
SHOW DATES: September 8-10, 14-17, 2023
AUDITION DATES: Sunday & Monday June 11th & 12th, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.
Half Baked (Joe Simonelli)
Directed by: Mat Barninger
Retired brothers Jay and Sonny Allen move to central Florida with their wives Martha and Veronica to open a cafe. When the business starts failing and their nest egg dries up, they take drastic action to try to generate some cash. Action that includes murder for life insurance money, pod casts and baking cannabis into the appetizers to ‘stimulate’ business! However, when Martha’s old boyfriend, detective Marty Minkoff as well as Nadia, a fortysomething Latvian loan shark who Jay owes money to, arrive on the scene, things get complicated! Throw into the mix a twenty-something millennial who’s never heard of Elvis Presley, but sounds and acts exactly like him, and you soon have a recipe for hilarity!
SHOW DATES: November 10-12 & 16-19, 2023
AUDITION DATES: Sunday & Monday August 13th & 14th, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Hallelujah Girls (Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, & Jamie Wooten)
Directed by: Douglas D. Cooper
Hilarity abounds when the feisty females of Eden Falls, Georgia, decide to shake up their lives. The action in this rollicking Southern comedy takes place in SPA-DEE-DAH!, the abandoned church-turned-day-spa where this group of friends gathers every Friday afternoon. After the loss of a dear friend, the women realize time is precious, and if they’re going to change their lives and achieve their dreams, they have to get on it now! But Sugar Lee, their high-spirited, determined leader, has her hands full keeping the women motivated. Carlene’s given up on romance, having buried three husbands. Nita’s a nervous wreck from running interference between her problematic son and his probation officer. Mavis’ marriage is so stagnant she’s wondering how she can fake her own death to get out of it. And sweet, simple Crystal entertains them all, singing Christmas carols with her own hilarious lyrics. The comic tension mounts when a sexy ex-boyfriend shows up unexpectedly, a marriage proposal comes from an unlikely suitor and Sugar Lee’s archrival vows she’ll stop at nothing to steal the spa away from her. By the time the women rally together to overcome these obstacles and launch their new, improved lives, you’ve got a side-splitting, joyful comedy that will make you laugh out loud and shout “Hallelujah!”
SHOW DATES: March 8-10 & 14-17, 2024
AUDITION DATES: Monday & Tuesday December 11th & 12th, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Monsters! A Musical Meltdown (Gail Phaneuf & Ernie Lijoi)
Directed by: Andrea Stephenson
Capturing the humor, agony and insight experienced at life’s milestones. The show is set in Samantha’s Manhattan apartment where she lives alone. Her mother pays a visit to celebrate her 40th birthday, during which Samantha reveals that she has plans to quit her Wall Street job and head for soul-searching adventure in Machu Picchu. Distressed at this potentially hasty move, her mother desperately tries to convince Samantha to reconsider, to do the practical thing. Samantha insists she’s firm in her resolve to strike a new path at 40, but the echo of her mother’s words stirs up a toxic blend of old insecurities embodied by monsters – familiar to us all – Apathy, Fear and Body. These demons descend upon her, one by one, on this momentous birthday, in a bid to derail her new ambitions and to protect their own demon status. Samantha is dragged into a hilarious showdown of wills and determination, as this pack of zany demons tries to sink her spirits and drag her into their paranoid world. When a birthday package arrives at her door, the monsters warn her it’s no gift, but part of a dangerous plot against her. The antics only skyrocket with the unexpected arrival of a sexy, young Birthday Singer, sent mysteriously to wish her birthday greetings. Samantha gains an unlikely ally in her battle with the demons. In the end, Samantha wins, with a revelation that shocks and delights her and the audience. Charged with energetic music and side-splitting lyrics, MONSTERS asks: Have you faced your demons? We can’t necessarily destroy them, but we can laugh at them and put them in their place.
SHOW DATES: June 7-9 & 13-16, 2024
AUDITION DATES: Monday & Tuesday March 25th & 26th, 2024 at 7 p.m.