The Tellico Community Players are putting the finishing touches on the upcoming production of “The Cemetery Club,” which opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Tellico Community Playhouse, 304 Lakeside Plaza.

The play is described as a funny and poignant look at grief and getting on with life. Directed by Jill Bergeron, the production features five actors — four women and a man.

“I’m definitely blessed with this group of actors,” Bergeron said. “They’re all wonderful and do a great job on their characters and really bring the show to life. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast.


”In terms of all the other stuff that goes with it, I couldn’t ask for a better crew,” she added. “We’ve got people who are doing the lights, the music, the set, the props, the costumes and hair and makeup. ... I don’t have to crack the whip or anything because they’re doing something they love to do.”

Bergeron has directed the play before, but the overall story and jokes never get old, she said.

“I was very happy to be able to direct it again because it’s such a funny play,” she said. “As many times as I’ve seen it, I’m still laughing.”

The storyline focuses on three Jewish widows — Freddi Ruth-Pope as Ida, Rita Wessel as Doris and Judie Douglas as Lucille — who meet monthly for tea before visiting the graves of their husbands.

Rounding out the small cast is Kelley Gray as Mildred and the only male actor in the play, Joel Bonnan, as Sam the butcher. The two stir up banter among the three widows throughout the play.

“This is my eighth show with Tellico Community Players,” Bonnan said. “And this one kind of interested me because I’m the only male in the show, which was kind of fun. How it turned out was that three of the four other women in the cast — I was on stage with them before, so I was looking forward to kind of a reunion. We’re having a great time together.”

In the final days before opening night, the cast and crew are tuning nearly every aspect of the show.

“We have been practicing four or five days a week and right now we’re getting to a very serious part in the production,” Bonnan said. “We started with four nights a week and now we’re up to five or six nights a week … and we actors know it as hell week because things are corrected, things are stopped and started, we fool with props and costumes and we flow with makeup sometimes. And it’s kind of jangly, but then it gets smoother and smoother and smoother.”

Ida is described as a sweet-tempered widow who is ready to begin a new life, while Lucille is the embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun. Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene.

Performing in her fourth play with TCP, Wessel has fallen in love with Doris.

“I’ve been waiting for this show to come up again because I was in it eight years ago where I used to live and I played a different role,” Wessel said. “This time I auditioned thinking it’d be nice if I could get in it. It’s a great group. They are fun and talented people.”

“(Playing Doris) is fun,” Wessel said. “She is kind of snippy and snide and she gets irritated easily. She has a lot of fun lines and lines that just kind of get to you.”

Wessel said she is excited to see how the audience will react after numerous weeks of rehearsal.

“The community here is great for just about everything we do,” she said. “They just really get involved and pull together. It’s just a really good time and the community always comes out and supports.”

Ruth-Pope said she relates to her character, Ida, in more ways than one.

“She’s kind of the referee or the peacekeeper between Doris and Lucile, who are often at odds because they are on such different ends of the spectrum of how they’re treating or getting over their husbands,” Ruth-Pope said. “That’s a familiar role in life to me.”

She said she believes the play is really about relationships.

“I think that the main framework of the show is the relationship of these three women and how they relate to each other, how they have been shaped and are continuing to be shaped by their relationships with their husbands, their families, and now with each other,” Ruth-Pope said. “It’s really about the relationship of three women and we know that we can never get tired of seeing, writing, hearing stories about relationships that women have with each other.”

While at first glance the title might allude to a dark and scary tone, the play is really a comedy.

“I would say don’t be scared away by the title,” Bonnan said. “It’s a comedy with a bit of drama in there and a few touching moments. From what I’ve seen backstage when the ladies are on stage together, they are an absolute riot. And I hope that people don’t miss it just because they might be scared by the title ‘The Cemetery Club’.”

Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5-7 and 1:30 p.m. Oct. 8. For more information or tickets, visit online at https://www.tellicocommunityplayhouse.org.