The Actors’ Mission is gearing up for their latest production “Dearly Departed” kicking off this weekend in Rock Springs. Â The production is directed by Brad Russell and produced in part by Dramatists Play Services and Sweetwater BOCES.
THE STORY: In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father’s funeral, the Turpin’s other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, “When I die, don’t tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you.” Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral. – Dramatists Play Service
Performances are Friday, June 2nd and Saturday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm with a matinee at 2:00 pm on Sunday, June 4th at the Elks Lodge on C Street. Â All performances are free and open to the public. Â A free meal is served one hour prior to each performance.
