Local players joined the ‘Club’

The longest continuously operating community theater group in the state, the Marble Valley Players, took center stage in West Rutland for three days, performing Ivan Menchell’s “The Cemetery Club.”

The witty comedy for all ages is set in a cemetery and tells the story of three Jewish widows who visit the graves of their deceased husbands each month until an eligible widower is thrown into the mix.

As sparks fly, two of the widows feel the need to move past the spouses’ headstones to a new life. The production communicates with hope that love does indeed last after it is lost and no age or time can get in its way.

It will be the Marble Valley Players’ first production of “The Cemetery Club” since organizing around the turn of the century in Proctor as the Community Players.

“This is a story of letting go as we get older,” said Nancy Manney, the director of the production, but there’s also a fair share of comedy in the mix, she said.

“The one-liners are wonderful, but it’s also very poignant,” said Judy Wideawake, the group’s spokeswoman. “It’s definitely going to be entertaining and funny.”

Her first time directing a full-length play, Manney said the process has been a great learning experience, made easier by the well-versed actors she picked for the roles.

“They’ve all worked really, really hard and are really dedicated. It’s a long show with just a few players so they have a lot of lines to learn,” Manney said. “It’s coming along great; it’s really been an incredible experience for me.”

Last year, Manney directed a 20-minute production and from the experience she said she wanted to challenge herself by directing “The Cemetery Club,” a play that has been many years in the making.

After seeing the production put on by another community theater group a few years ago, Manney said, she was motivated to direct her adaptation of the production.

“I’ve had the cast on my mind for a long time … I had worked with all of these people at one time or another,” she said.

Since rehearsals began three months ago, the cast has rehearsed three nights a week and Manney said on opening night the audience will be amazed with the production, even if it’s not the exact same as another director’s variation.

“I’ve seen one other production and I really think our play is way different than theirs,” she said. “I don’t know what the difference is but I think it’s just in the cast and how the cast portrays the characters. These people have really gelled as friends and have a great amount of camaraderie … which is very important.”

The play features Judi Tompkins playing the role of the flirtatious Lucille, Charlotte Gillam playing the dedicated widow Doris, Gail O’Brien as the independent Ida, and Kerry Spradlin as Sam, the eligible widower.

Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at dawson.raspuzzi@rutlandherald.com