Most theatrical troupes praise originality in their entertainment and stray away from the difficulty that is commonly known as a “sequel.”

ACTORS, however, is facing this challenge head-on in its latest dinner theater, “Caught in the Net,” by Ray Cooney.

The show is the second part of the play, “Run for Your Wife,” which the troupe performed last year.

The play follows a London taxi driver, John Smith, who has two different wives in two parts of the city.

While trying to prevent the two women from knowing of the other’s existence, John finds a larger problem in the sequel.

His two teenage children, a girl and a boy from each wife, find one another on the internet and are determined to meet.

John will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

“Net” consists of seven performers, but the small size never gave director and senior in agronomy Brian Parrish a break while casting.

“It wasn’t the best time I’ve ever had. Not enough people tried out,” Parrish said.

The casting process consisted of six veterans and one new-comer, David Detlefs.

“I’d asked [David] to just come get a script to see what he thought of it and was able to persuade him to stay for tryouts,” Parrish said. “I think I may owe some favors now.”

While Parrish and producers Dennis Lindeman, Marla Miller and Stan Rabe had the difficult task of creating a sequel, casting proved to be more work than the play itself.

“It isn’t an issue if [the audience hasn’t] seen the last show,” he said.

“I wrote up a little synopsis of what happened in ‘Wife’ so hopefully, they’ll get it,” Parrish said.

“It tends to be harder to find people to fit certain characters twice, since you can’t always get actors to return to do the sequel,” he said.

The casting was solved, but Parrish still had the responsibility of constructing the set.

The script calls for two different houses to be on stage at the same time, as the play moves back and forth from each location and the characters share entrances and exits.

“There are eight doors on the stage,” Parrish said. “That is almost unheard of in any given show, especially one done on the ACTORS stage.”

After all the struggles of getting the show on a roll, Parrish and the crew are relieved and excited to begin their final weekend of “Caught in the Net.”

Caught In the Net

When: Dinner at 6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Friday – Sunday

Where: ACTORS Studio, 120 Abraham Drive

Cost: $35 dinner and show tickets, $15 show only

Dinner Menu

Tossed salad, roast beef, potatoes, roll with butter, roasted vegetables and Yorkshire pudding.

Apple cake and coffee will be served at intermission.