OnStage is staying put. The performing arts venue and the city renewed the annual lease agreement for the nonprofit theater to use the Boys Ranch facilities for plays and performances.

“I’m here to celebrate the re-signing of our lease,” Mike Hathaway, president of OnStage in Bedford told council members earlier this month.

The Bedford Boys Ranch Master Plan called for a four-phase project to renovate the park. The first phase was completed in 2016 and the remaining phases of the redevelopment is called Phase Next.

In November, voters approved a $70 million bond package to pay for Phase Next. The plan calls for a makeover of the park including building a multigenerational center, outdoor amenities such as an aquatic center and ballfields.

Concerns about the future of OnStage surfaced last summer when Hathaway and others objected that the popular theater wasn’t included in the Phase Next improvement plans for the aging Boys Ranch Park. But, city officials assured Hathaway that the performing arts would be part of the plan.

Hathaway said that last year, the theater brought in around a quarter of a million dollars to Bedford’s economy as theater-goers and cast members patronized restaurants, businesses and attended festivals in the community.

When conversations came up about Bedford Commons or the Boys Ranch Park, there was always talk of Bedford being a destination.

“I latched on to that, making OnStage an entertainment destination,” he said. “I’d like to say how excited we are to re-brand ourselves as Bedford’s entertainment center,” Hathaway said.

Currently, the city council and the consulting firm, Kimley Horn are ironing out details of what will be included in the final design of Phase Next.

A busy lineup for 2018

OnStage has a busy performance lineup starting out with “The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice.” It is a satirical comedy about husband and wife Henry and Alice Smith living rather ordinary lives, yet they want more in life. The play is interspersed with their fantasies.

Hathaway said he is looking forward to a strong showing this year. The 2018 performance lineup is:

• The Secret Lives of Henry and Alice: Jan. 19-Feb. 4
• Putting It Together: March 2-March 25
• The Lone Star Love Potion: April 27-May 13
• Dogfight: June 22-July 15
• Men On Boats: Aug.17-Sept. 2
• The Cat's Meow: Oct. 5-21
• War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast: Oct. 30-31
• Sorry! Wrong Chimney!: Nov. 30- Dec. 16

Already 80 percent of the performances of the iconic “War of the Worlds” are sold out, Hathaway said.

OnStage and Bedford’s Cultural Commission are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the 1938 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds,” adapted from Orson Welles’s science fiction novel of the same title.

Welles adapted his novel as a radio play that was broadcast on CBS. The 1938 broadcast centers around news reports of Martians invading New Jersey. There were reports at the time of people panicking and fleeing in their cars.