By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
BELHAVEN — A coffin, a dysfunctional family, a will and an unexpected bundle of joy are the makings for “A Good Man,” the latest comedy to be presented by the Way Off Broadway Players of Belhaven.
The show open Wednesday and runs nightly through Saturday in The Theatre, the former Sears building located adjacent to EEii’s. Show time is 8 p.m. and tickets are $10.
“This is the first play the group has done by Frederick Stroppel and it will probably not be the last,” said George Wahab, the Players’ director. “The play is hilarious. It revolves around a family whose father recently died, the funeral home director and his son, an air conditioning repairman and assorted girlfriends.”
Laughs are guaranteed from the play’s opening scene, during which the bereaved family learns their father has been prepared for viewing in the wrong suit in the Rustic Room of the Good Shepherd Funeral Parlor.
“He can’t be buried in tweed. It is the wrong season,” insists mourning daughter Sharon Muldoon, portrayed by the always hilarious Mary Wahab.
But things go from bad (fashion) to worse: one of the sons of the deceased takes a closer look and realizes the body in the coffin isn’t his father.
“From there, things really go downhill for the family and the funeral director,” says director Wahab.
Cue the entrances of a cast of characters that includes a loose woman, a successful salesman, a drug addict, a divorcee, a gold digger and a deranged man who converses with the dead man and holds the others hostage.
Add sibling rivalry to the mix, and you have the makings of another rib-tickling Way Off Broadway performance.
Even the show’s director isn’t immune to the humor, even after several weeks of rehearsal.
“The play gets funnier every time I watch it,” Wahab said with a laugh.
Cast as the funeral director, Martin Lamb, is Sam Putnam. Aaron Stevens plays his love struck son, Jimmy. Zach Stevens and Lloyd share the role of the recently departed Walter Porteus — Stevens takes the stage Wednesday through Friday, and Ballance fills out the coffin, so to speak, on Saturday evening. Likewise, Thomas Everett and Stevens will portray wayward son Andrew Porteus, Everett Wednesday through Friday and Stevens on Saturday.
Rounding out the cast are Hollis Brooks as Douglas Porteus, Kate Anderson as Gloria Porteus, Dean Armstrong as nut job Bobby Gelardi, Mandy Robbins as Norma Czerniawski and Vicky Putnam as Yolanda Kamola.
Joining director Wahab on the crew are lighting technician Abby Anderson and prompters Zach Stevens and Maggie Anderson.
Seating in The Theatre is limited, so reservations are recommended. For more information, call 252-943-3796.