CARTHAGE, Mo. —
Three women and a cemetery. That’s all you really need to know about the upcoming Stone’s Throw Theatre production, “The Cemetery Club.” That, and you should probably have a tissue or two handy for the spilled tears -- the kind from laughing and the kind from crying.
Director Doug Dickey likes to think of the comedy as “bittersweet.”
“There are some pretty sad moments in it,” he said. It’s the kind of play “that will make you laugh ... until you cry.”
“The Cemetery Club” focuses on three women, friends for decades, each having lost a husband and each meeting once a month inside the cemetery to visit their loved ones. But things change when one of the three women grows tired of her lonely life, and another meets an eligible widower named Sam.
Despite to the cemetery setting and the fact that half the cast is dead, Dickey said the play is anything but grim.
It’s a “predominately light-hearted story with a sometimes sitcom-like feel; there are humorous twists and poignant turns,” Dickey said. “It’s really a play about (people) moving on. The writer has done a very good job treating it with both sensitivity and a sense of humor.”
The two-act play, written by Ivan Menchell, has been characterized as “Steel Magnolias” meets “The Golden Girls.”
An actor for years, this is Dickey’s second play as director. His first direction came in the 2008 production of “Jake’s Women.”
“I like comedies,” said Dickey, a sergeant with the Carthage Police Department. “I’m just more of a comedy person, I guess. I like Neil Simon’s plays. But they’re tough to direct, because so much of good comedy is based on perfect timing. I’ve learned that’s one of the toughest things to do, not everyone can do it. Luckily, I’ve got a talented, veteran cast.”
The production features Linda Bailey as Ida, Shanti Navarre as Lucille and Idell Looney as Doris. Kevin Provins returns to the stage as Sam, with Betsy Fleischaker as Mildred.
Local artist Sherri Pettey painted one of the play’s dominant backdrops, a 30-foot stretch of a wind-swept cemetery.
“We just stood there and stared at it for 10 to 15 minutes and said, ‘Wow,’” Dickey said. “We’re not talking about a Halloween cemetery at night with fog; we’re talking about Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens, N.Y. Just beautiful.”
Opening night will also feature a pre-show performance by the Springfield Music Co. Barbershop Quartet, Dickey said.
“It’s fun to build something (like this),” Dickey said. “It’s a creative process.”
Lifestyles
Related Photos
-
Kevin Provins, Linda Bailey, Shanti Navarre, Idell Looney and Betsy Fleischaker star in the Stone's Throw Dinner Theatre's production of "The Cemetery Club." Courtesy | Stone's Throw Dinner Theatre
Discussion
‘Cemetery Club’ requires plenty of tissue
- Lifestyles
-
-
Balloons become everything from giraffes to gateways in Joplin man's hands
Ronald Metz’s fingers fold pinched-off portions of a skinny, blue balloon, wrapping and squeezing them until the balloon ends up looking like a tail-wagging pooch.
-
Frankie Meyer: Tornado stories should be recorded
The Joplin tornado was one of the worst disasters to ever hit our area. Thousands of families were forever changed.
-
Cowboy church offers non-traditional Bible camp
Vacation Bible school gets under way in full force at Joplin area churches next month, but one congregation offers an alternative. How about Horsemanship and Bible camp?
-
David Yount: Christians still await return of Jesus
Unlike ourselves, the earliest Christians lived in imminent expectation of the consummation of history, when Jesus would return to usher in the kingdom of God. They thought heaven was right around the corner. This expectation explains their fervor.
-
Dave Woods: Branson attractions welcome Memorial Day visitors
People ask me the same question time and time again: How are folks in Branson?
-
Lee Duran: Aspiring authors must ‘be tough or be gone’
According to Chila Woychick, most readers will close a book and walk away at page 18. Could anything be more depressing?
-
Jeremiah Tucker: New charting methods help alternative music
Now the Hot 100 is using digital data such as iTunes downloads and plays on streaming sites such as Spotify, in addition to radio play, to determine a song’s ranking. This is likely a big reason why a song like “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which has benefited from high-profile exposure on TV, can be the No. 1 song in the country.
-
'Battleship' shows need for list of summer movie warnings
I like to think that writing these columns does more than just allow me a chance to offer up senseless opinions that are easy to skip over when trying to find the next show time for the latest “Madagascar.”
-
Joe Hadsall: Sherlock Holmes enjoying a renaissance
I was in the first grade when I read my first “Sherlock Holmes” book. It was a young readers edition of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Each left-hand page had 14- or 16-point text set in New Century Schoolbook; each right-hand page had a line illustration. One of those was a big, scary-looking dog.
-
Second Restore Fest to feature Jeremy Camp, Mandisa
Jeff Roman, partner relations director at Convoy of Hope, worked with Cox to return Christian recording artists to the stage in the second Restore Fest, which will take place Saturday in Landreth Park.
- More Lifestyles Headlines
-
