Life and death bring laughs in "The Cemetery Club"

By Cory Withers

Topsail Advertiser

A lively comedy about dealing with the deaths of loved ones is coming to the Sneads Ferry Community Center. The Sneads Ferry Community Theatre, under the direction of long-time member Gaylene Branton, will be performing Ivan Menchell's "The Cemetery Club" for the next two weekends.

A May 26 dress rehearsal was the perfect time to speak with the five actors while they were preparing for Friday's debut. Much like the Sneads Ferry Community Theatre logo (two shrimp representing the traditional comedy and tragedy theatre masks), the actors were very serious about putting on the best performance possible, but they also were light-hearted and relaxed about the upcoming performance with a demeanor that people of the area are known to possess.

Longtime Sneads Ferry Community Theatre member Marcia Hamilton was the first of the five "Cemetery Club" actors to describe the character she would be playing.

"I play Ida, said Hamilton." "The play actually takes place in her house and in a cemetery in Queens, New York. She is sort of the peacemaker and the even keeled person between two lunatic fringe types. All three are widows. My character finds a boyfriend, and up until that time the three friends were getting along very well. At that point things unravel. The play is very funny but it's also food for thought. It's very poignant in places about how different people deal differently with sorrow, loss and tragedy in the different stages of life. It's a different kind of play than we've done before. It's got something for everybody. It's not completely a comedy, it has some parts that will be bring a tear to your eye," said Hamilton.

Surf City resident Lynda Bryan is the latest addition to the cast of four women and one man. She explained that while she may have had long time between her stints on the stage, she had just a short amount of time to learn this particular character.

"It's my first time on the stage since high school 40 years ago when I played a geisha girl. I play Mildred. She's an innocent bystander that goes to the wedding with the three main characters -she's more laughed at, not with, like the others. The play is so funny, maybe because I'm at the age where it's supposed to be funny. I'm just glad to be here," said Bryan.

Jennifer Meier plays the part of Doris, one of three widows that handle their grief in three unique ways.

"They go every month to the cemetery to visit their husbands. I play a very stoic, very self-righteous lady and these other women have turned into floozies, they are just there to pick up men. You're going to wind up not liking Doris, because to her best friends she is very short - very ‘end of subject,' but she's still kind of funny," said Meier.

Della Merritt also plays one of the three widows, and explains how sometimes the silliest person in the room could be someone who is hurting just as much as everyone else.

"I think that Lucille provides a lot of comic relief to the other characters, but the reason she's so funny and takes life so lightly is because she's actually covering up that she was hurt by her husband Harry, who always cheated on her, and she was never able to say goodbye to him because he died very quickly of cancer. So she's spent all these years dating all these different men trying to get back at him, and to make people think she hasn't given up on life," explained Merritt.

John Pratt plays Sam, the only man in the play, who is also a lonely man in the play.

"Sam is nice guy. He's the kind of guy everybody should like. He's looking for someone to spend his time with. He's a little lonely. At one time, he wasn't going to even look at any other women, but his son talked him into it by pestering him," laughed Pratt.

Director Branton, in her usual style, spent her time at rehearsal more worried about making sure every detail of the play was being prepared properly, and directing any comments towards crediting her cast and crew.

"It takes a lot of time. Even though we have good friends at the theatre base - it still takes a lot of time," said Branton, while showing off the set and pointed out who made which parts of the stage.

While The Cemetery Club is a play about learning to find your way while dealing with grief; the irony is not lost on members of the theatre, who recently had to begin coping with the loss of someone very close to them: Director Julia Eller. Della Merritt expressed admiration for the recently departed Mrs. Eller with thoughts that almost surely would be felt by everyone in the cast. She explained how losing Julia has led them to learn to how to do things they had always leaned on her for.

"On a personal note, I think it's gone very smoothly despite the fact that we don't have Julia. She was our base, our foundation. Even if she wasn't directing, she was still here for guidance. It's been kind of odd to do it all without her here. It's odd to turn around and say things like ‘If she was here, she'd have the answer,' but she's not, so we have had to learn to do it without her. But I think it's going to go very well," said Merritt.

The Cemetery Club will be performed on May 29 and 30 and June 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. with a matinee on June 7 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information, call 910 327-2798.