ROUND LAKE — Dinner and a show is coming to the Round Lake Community Center as JD Productions prepares for its weekend performances of “Check Please: Take 2."
The show will run Friday through Sunday, with Friday and Saturday performances starting with a 6 p.m. pork loin dinner with the show to start at 7 p.m. A Sunday matinee begins at 2 p.m., and includes complimentary pop and popcorn.
“Check Please: Take 2” centers on a newly broken-up couple as they re-enter the dating scene after being encouraged by their friends. However, they both find that love is no luckier outside of their relationship, and the world of first dates is even uglier than they remember.
“It's essentially a series of bad blind date after bad blind date,” said co-director Denise Deitchman.
This show, which will have about an hour run time, is a sequel to “Check Please,” which Deitchman and directing partner Jeri Sirovy were involved with two years ago.
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“It was so fun,” said Sirovy. “And when we told the cast there was a sequel … they were all like, that was great. Let’s do it again!”
The cast includes eleven members, all of whom have been in JD Productions shows before with the exception of one newcomer. While Tucker Kern will be reprising his role as the male lead in the sequel, “Check Please: Take 2,” will feature Leann Jeffers as its leading lady instead of Deitchman, who played the female lead in “Check Please.”
“You’re much more invested on this side,” Deitchman said about directing from behind the curtains, instead of acting in front of them. She and Sirovy have their hands in all aspects of the show, from directing to production and design. “It’s our show, and we want to put on the best we can.”
“We want the show to be the best; we want the actors to be the best,” agreed Sirovy. “I don't want them to think this was OK. You know, you want everybody to feel really good, that it was a good experience.”
This will be JD Productions' fifth show since the theatre company's creation 10 months ago. Rehearsals began after the new year and the cast has met once a week in preparation for their upcoming performance.
Dinner tickets must be purchased in advance for $25 and will be available at the Round Lake Community Center, Round Lake City Hall, Schaap Sanitation, The Hair Gallery, and BTU Heating and Cooling in Worthington. Matinee tickets can be purchased ahead or at the door for $15.
