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"Church Basement Ladies" has been playing to a full house every day in the Hstfest Theatre, the new venue at Norsk Hstfest.

"They're funny," said Suzann Nelson, who co-wrote the books the play is based upon with her partner, Janet Letnes Martin. The uproarious performances include farce and broad comedy.

"We've got people jumping out of freezers," Nelson said.

Also important is that the producers and director are willing to work with Nelson and Martin to help make the play historically accurate. Nelson said she pointed out during production that a certain type of belt buckle wasn't produced until five years after the 1960s setting of the play or that a certain brand referred to in the script was wrong, and changes were made to keep it historically accurate.

Nelson first met Martin when they were attending college in Minneapolis. They discovered they had a lot in common, including being raised in small communities dominated by Lutherans Martin in Hillsboro and Nelson in Emmonsville, Minn. and being confirmed in churches named Our Savior's Lutheran Church.

In the mid-1990s, when Nelson was hot and struggling to pull up her pantyhose to go to her office job one morning, she thought there had to be a better way to make a living. She contacted Martin, who had already written some books, and the two started collaborating on a series of books about their experiences growing up Lutheran.

The two women also perform at places such as Medora and Norsk Hstfest as "Those Lutheran Ladies." Out of the early success of the books and their performances, the now popular series of plays was born.

Nelson said the original play, "Church Basement Ladies," played for a couple of years in the Twin Cities and now there are three traveling performances of it. There are also sequels to "Church Basement Ladies" that have done well. "Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping" is playing at the Plymouth Playhouse until Nov. 1 and a Christmas production: "Away in a Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas" will open Nov. 5.

The original play is comedic, but also deals with serious issues such as how much the church was the center of a small town community in the mid-1960s, the lives of the Lutheran ladies and their pastor, and the suspiciousness between different churches in that era. The women share secrets in the church basement that they'd never tell men.

This was the time when churches were just starting to work together, Nelson said, but she also recalls how people regarded a Lutheran marrying a Catholic as a "mixed marriage" and wondered which one of the couple would "turn" to the other's religion. The sequels deal with how the Lutheran ladies adapt to the changing times, including social issues such as hippies and the turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon.

The Christmas play deals with the behind the scenes organization of the church's Christmas pageant.

Nelson said the cast for this production is great. The pastor is played by William Christopher, who played Father Mulcahy for 11 years on the TV series "MASH." Now Christopher is playing a Lutheran, so Nelson said she jokes with him that he has "turned." All of the casts she's seen have been excellent, said Nelson.

The Church Basement Ladies will be put on from 1 to 3:30 p.m. today and again from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Hstfest Theatre.