Play director Jim Campanella suspects he can make a friend laugh who dislikes "You Can't Take It With You" when the Sterling Playmakers stage it next month.
That's part of the reason why after three years, Campanella is directing again. "I love acting, and this is actually a play I would like to do a part in," said the Hamilton resident, a member of the community theater group since it formed in 1996.
Peter Hadingue, a Sterling Playmaker for one year, figures he can make people laugh in his role as Grandpa.
"It's a great part. He has a lot of fun, and he has a lot of great lines," Hadingue said, adding that he finds himself quoting the old man outside practice "at an alarming rate because he has a lot of good quotes."
Grandpa heads the eccentric Henderson family, known to take in an odd assortment of lodgers who won't leave, including an ice-delivery man, a drunk woman and a Russian duchess. The Hendersons, who believe in living for the moment since "you can't take it with you," encourage the odd assortment of live-ins to pursue their dreams.
THE 1930s-40s comedy combines slapstick and regular humor to tell the story of Mr. Kirby's dinner visit to the Henderson home. Mr. Kirby's son Tony is the boyfriend of Alice, Grandpa's granddaughter and an employee of Mr. Kirby. The match displeases Mr. Kirby, who is conservative and bourgeois as a wealthy self-made businessman. Grandpa, on the other hand, decided 35 years prior to give up working since he was not having any fun.
"In his words, he came home and relaxed," Hadingue said.
A conflict develops between the two families, pointing to the rich or the haves versus those with less or the have-nots. Grandpa becomes key to solving the conflict.
"He's responsible at the end of the play for bringing everything together," Hadingue said about Grandpa's convincing the Kirbys to stay. "He likes watching people interact. ... He subtly manipulates people, but he's also a bit of a rascal on the side. He likes a practical joke."
Hadingue moved to Sterling a year ago and was there for one week before he joined the Playmakers. "It's an escapism I suppose, and it's fun working with other people as well," said Hadingue, who has been involved in community theater for 18 years. "It's like a bug. Once you got it, it's in your system."
Stephen Smith, who plays Mr. Kirby, finds playacting to be "a nice relief from work," he said. "It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort, but it's fun. It's fun to be on stage."
Smith admits he was bit by the "acting bug" after his girlfriend Elizabeth Harrington convinced him to join five years ago. "Once I went through it and found out how much I enjoy it, I didn't want to stop."
"You either love it or you don't," said Harrington, a member of the 13-member board of directors for the past three years. "There's no other reason. ... A lot of us share the bug."
THE STERLING PLAYMAKERS chose the script since it is a semi-popular play, calls for a sizable 19-member cast, includes comedy and is written by the playwrights of another play the group performed in the fall of 1999, "The Man Who Came To Dinner," by George S. Kauffman and Moss Hart.
The Playmakers select the season a year in advance, picking a comedy or drama for the spring and fall performances and a musical in the summers. The group also performs two smaller shows and is planning a murder mystery dinner play during Mother's Day weekend.
The Playmakers' next show will be "The Sound of Music" at the end of July through the beginning of August. Auditions will be April 26 for a 45-member cast.
"In this group, none of us take ourselves too seriously," Hadingue said.
The Sterling Playmakers sport a membership of 138 households of one to five people.