Cast announced for 2nd Act Players’ November production of “Old Ringers”

Four veterans of past 2nd Act Players’ shows will be joining three new faces in the cast of the theater’s November production of Joe Simonelli’s Old Ringers. The comedy follows the misadventures of four senior women who turn to phone sex to help pay their mounting financial obligations.

Julie Mitre, who has been in four 2nd Act Players productions, will star as Diane in Old Ringers. Mitre will be joined in the cast by Ryan Hall, a veteran of two 2nd Act Players productions. Also returning to the 2nd Act Players stage for the first time since 2016 will be its Cofounder John N. Frank. Frank will play Mitre/Diane’s boyfriend, Harry the Hat.

Also back on the 2nd Act Players’ stage will be Debra Rodkin, last seen in the 2nd Act Players’ recent Women’s Empowerment Festival. Rodkin will play Verna, the over-sexed member of the female foursome.

Cast members making their 2nd Act Players’ debuts are Sandy Gulliver, Valerie Gorman and Camille Oswald. Oswald will play Mitre/Diane’s daughter while Gulliver and Gorman play Kathy Ann and Rose, friends of Diane and Verna.

Gulliver, who has extensive films credits, also has performed with the SWAG Theatre, Deerfield Family Theatre and Broadway in Naperville.

Gorman has appeared at Redtwist Theatre, Steep Theatre, Oil Lamp Theatre and Rivendell Theatre, among many others.

Oswald has performed at such regional theaters as the Hanger Theatre and with the Kenan Theatre Company in North Carolina.

Performances of Old Ringers will take place Saturdays, Nov. 2, 9 and 16th at 7:30, and Sundays, Nov. 3, 10 and 17th at 3 p.m. in Logan Hall at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Evanston, home of the 2nd Act Players. A critics’ preview performance is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Mitchell Ward, who last worked with the 2nd Act Players as stage manager of its Women’s Empowerment Play Festival, will direct.

The play was originally set in New York, but Ward has obtained the playwright’s permission to set the 2^nd Act Players’ production in Chicago, modifying the script as needed so it will be closer to home for its Chicago-area audience.

The 2^nd Act Players is celebrating its sixth year of bringing stories about key second acts in people’s lives to Chicago-area audiences.