Stand-up night to return to Ohio Theatre

May 21—LIMA — The first Ohio Theatre stand-up night was a big success so the venue is bringing it back for a second go-round.

Co-owner Michael Bouson said if the show at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 25 goes just as well, the theater might make it a monthly event.

"The audience was a very enthusiastic crowd and they all came early to get seats as close as possible," he said. "They were so into it and laughed and nobody got up and left immediately when the show was over because they didn't want the night to end."

Bouson said the show came about when a group of comedians from Fort Wayne proposed the idea of having six performers share their routines out of a 20-strong community from the Indiana city.

"They reached out to us and (co-owner) Joe (Correll) and I are spread pretty thin being a two-person operation," he said. "To have someone bring us a ready-made show is very attractive."

While the next show will feature new comedians including Drew Zimmerman, Rob Hanes, Red Parker, Chris Glover and Steven Ortiz, Bouson said he could vouch for Parker, having seen her act.

"She is hilarious," he said. "I know that she is going to be a little rowdy, but the other five are all new to me so unless the audience has been to a Fort Wayne comedy club before it's going to be something they haven't seen before. And I trust the judgment of the gentleman who hosts the show (Ken Carlson) so that's exciting, too."

Bouson said it is important to provide a show like this that is different from the usual dinner theatre lineup (currently featuring murder mystery "The Great Spaghetti Murders").

"The more people we can invite to the party, the better it is for everyone because it makes the entertainment more diverse without a singular perspective or point of view," he said. "We're no experts at creating stand-up comedy so it's great to have people that know what they're doing even if they are not big-time comics by any stretch. Because they're definitely people who get paid to do this regularly."

It helps that the first event saw just one joke that did not land perfectly in 90 minutes.

But a good audience really makes all the difference.

"If the audience is sleepy, then we're in trouble, but they were super-attentive and they can hear all the jokes in the canteen area," Bouson said. "Lima is not really large enough to support a full-time comedy club, but once a month might be the right formula to get enough folks to come out because when the audience is small, people might be shy about laughing out loud."

And if everything goes right again, Bouson said the theatre is next considering something special for a third show.

"Assuming the show goes well, we'll start working on the next show as an all-local show," Bouson said. "It's going to take a monumental effort because we don't know six stand-ups, but I'm sure there are more than the two we know. So, we'll just put a call out there for signups to submit clips of their act."

For tickets to the stand-up show, visit bit.ly/3UKkrSW.

For more information on everything the theatre has to offer, visit ohiotheatrelima.com.

Doors open for the show at 6 p.m.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.