If you’ve ever seen a Church Basement Ladies performance, you likely have a smile on 
your face at the very thought. Inspired by Growing Up Lutheran, a book by Janet Letnes Martin ’68 and Suzann (Johnson) Nelson ’68, the productions mine the humor of—and give a poignant picture of—women who faithfully serve in a Lutheran church kitchen.
Since September 2005, Janet Paone ’83 has played the role of Mrs. Vivian Snustad, the matriarch of the kitchen and a widow with traditional values who has a deep love for her church and its community. “The Last (Potluck) Supper,” the fifth of the Church Basement Ladies series, has been so well received that the show will be extended through the end of June. Paone fondly recalls the day she learned from the box office that one woman who had never been to a play in her life was seeing the show because her friends had told her she had to see the church basement ladies before she died; she was 86.
As an Augsburg student, Paone majored in theater and minored in music. While continuing her studies, she began singing with the Minnesota Opera Company, and continues to do so 30 years later! Having majored in theater, she now says that the mentoring of Dr. Ailene Cole at Augsburg was the “best educational experience one could have.”
Augsburg also figured prominently in Paone’s life more recently, when she needed a kidney transplant. The College and many alumni and friends hosted a benefit production to help pay for medical expenses. Her donor was a pilot for Delta, now retired, and a fellow actor. She met him in Fiddler on the Roof, in which she played Golda and he played Tevya. “He offered me his kidney after only knowing me for two weeks; he saved my life!”
In addition to acting in a wide variety of plays over the years (including Hamlet, Fiddler on 
the Roof, The Importance of Being Earnest, I’ll Be in a Home for Christmas, and the world premier of The Ultimate Pajama Party), Paone has enjoyed other long runs beyond the Church Basement Ladies gig, including two years in Nunsense, and more than eight years with Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, in which she played Italian mama Josephine Vitale in productions in both Minneapolis and Baltimore. (Check out her diverse talents and availability on Facebook, The Janet Paone Company.) Also, she has directed after-school theater productions at Irondale (Minn.) High School for 30 years, and was the keynote speaker for the National Kidney FOundation’s annual dinner. She threw out the first pitch to Twins player Glen Perkins (twice). She was the first winner of the FM107.1 Undiscovered Divas contest, had a radio show, and sang with the New York City Opera. What especially pleases Paone about the Church Basement Ladies show is that it reaches a lot of people, makes them happy, has many messages—and it’s a show “you could take your mom/grandma to…even the men like it!”