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Acting Company joins 'The Cemetery Club'
Play tells story of three women who become friends after death of their husbands
Sharing a similar event in life often brings people together, regardless of how different they may be.
This is one of the ideas behind "The Cemetery Club," the latest production from The Acting Company in Yuba City. The play begins its run on Friday and continues weekends until June 29.
"The Cemetery Club" is about three older women — Doris (Elizabeth Holcomb), Lucille (Foster Campbell-McManus) and Ida (Leslee Myers) whose husbands all have died. On a monthly basis, the women visit the cemetery where their husbands are buried, fulfilling their duties as members of the "cemetery club."
All of the women are very close to each other because of the shared loss, but all have very different personalities. Doris is set in her ways and refuses to live a life that doesn't involve her husband. Lucille tries making up for the flawed relationship she had with her deceased husband by chasing as many men as possible.
Rounding out the three is Ida, who is still getting over the loss of her husband but wants change in life. She tries for a relationship with Sam (Paul McManus), who is also a widower.
Sharon Wonder is the last member of the cast, playing Mildred, one of Sam's dates.
"('The Cemetery Club') is about their lives after their husbands have died," said the play's director, Gail Carter. "It's about the stage they're in after the deaths."
While the play deals with the emotions involved with moving on after the loss of a loved one, Carter said that there is a lot of humor. "There's a lot of comedy, but there's also a lot of serious stuff. It's a comedy that will bring you to tears."
What interested Carter in the play was the wide spectrum of emotions found in it. "It has a smaller cast, but there's a lot that happens," she said. "(The play) runs from drama to comedy in each scene."
Ultimately, "The Cemetery Club" is about how people react differently from losing a spouse, according to Carter, and that we can still enjoy life afterward. "It's about how there's life after death," she said.
“The Cemetery Club”
Times: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; runs to June 29
Where: The Acting Company, 815 B St., Yuba City
Tickets: $15. Call 751-1100.
