The ensemble cast of “Mom’s Gift” weren’t giving away any secrets at a recent rehearsal. K.B. Bell, who is co-directing the award-winning comedy, said the audience “won’t see the ending coming. I think they’ll laugh and I think they’ll cry.”
No arguments from Paul Martin, the other director of the play that opens Thursday at the Crest Theater.
“Some of the most serious scenes are giving us goosebumps — and then there’s a joke. We’re laughing through our tears,” he said.
Here’s what the producers will disclose about the play:
“In this comedy, Mom has been dead for 11 months and shows up at her husband’s birthday party as a ghost with a mission. Like Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she has to accomplish a task to earn her wings. Only what the task actually is, is a mystery. There are so many things to fix. The problem is complicated by the fact that the only person who can hear or see Mom is her daughter who has been ordered by the court to spend Dad’s birthday with him as part of her Anger Management Program. One by one the family’s secrets are peeled away revealing a shocking truth that surprises even our ghost!”
The cast includes Leanne Delgado as Kat, Josie Hickey as Brit, Karen Gore as Mom, Dwight Young as Dad, Dyann Twitchell as Trish and David Burdett as Kevin.
This is the second GBCT show Bell and Martin have worked on together. The first was the group’s 100th production, “The Kitchen Witches.”
“We worked so well together,” Bell said of Martin, adding the traditional title “assistant director” didn’t do him justice. “He puts just as much into this as I do.”
Twitchell is appearing in her 10th GBCT production and it’s the fifth show for Young, who has also been in five productions at Barton Community College. Gore and Burdett are appearing in their first GBCT shows.
If you want to go
Great Bend Community Theatre’s first production of the 2016–2017 season, “Mom’s Gift,” a two-act comedy by Phil Olson, will be presented Nov. 17-20 at the Crest Theater, 1905 Lakin Ave.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 20.
There will be a wine and cheese social on opening night, Thursday, Nov. 17, from 6-7 p.m. Tickets for the social are an additional $10 and sales are limited to 50 tickets.
Tickets are available beginning Monday by calling the Crest Theatre Ticket Office, 620-792-4228. Ticket office hours are noon to 1 p.m. All reserved seats are $12. Tickets will be available at the door one hour prior to each performance. Doors open one half hour prior to each performance.
