 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Theatre on the Ridge")
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Audience members exploded in bursts of laughter, stifled sad sniffles and commented out loud to characters on stage Thursday night at Theater on the Ridge's production of "The Cemetery Club."
The character-focused play tells the story of three older Jewish women who have lost their husbands. Every month the three friends go to the graves of their deceased husbands, but they each feel differently about the visits.
Ida (Diana Leadbeater) is a proper woman who sports pearls and serves afternoon tea. She struggles with the feelings of guilt that accompany her loneliness and desire to move on.
Doris (Cindy McCusker) is sarcastic and somewhat bitter. She is adamant she will never date or remarry.
But by far the best character in the show was Lucille (Drenia Acosta). Lucille is a flamboyant, over-the-top character who is a man-hungry diva. At two specific points in the show, Lucille became extremely emotional. Acosta sold the performance with a shaky voice and actual streams of tears.
Things began to take shape when Ida started a relationship with Sam the Butcher (Arthur J. Pollack). Sam is a shy man, who fumbles over many romantic situations, but Pollack delivered some of the lines too drawn-out, or he stuttered.
Doris got angry when Ida wanted to leave the cemetery club, and Lucille was jealous when Sam showed Ida attention. Both women met with Sam and told him not to take Ida to their friend Selma's wedding.
The climax of the story comes when the three women stumble back from the wedding at 2 a.m. drunk and full of honesty. Ida found out what her friends have told Sam and feels betrayed, and there were hints Doris had developed some type of medical problem.
The audience finds out Lucille, the one who seemed to be the most at peace with her husband's death, was actually putting on a front to hide her internal struggle that involved immersing herself in men to take away the pain of her late husband always cheating on her.
The production was most appreciated by an older crowd and was full of age-related humor. At the point when Ida switches her wedding ring to her right hand, one audience member shouted out encouraging words saying, "It's time. Good for you."
Chico State alumnus Kyle Eberle liked the show, and said one of the things that made the production great was the actors.
Theater on the Ridge gets recurring actors and usually has a good pool to choose from, Eberle said.
Eberle and his wife participated in theater in high school and college and have supported the arts by being season ticket holders for the last four years at Theater on the Ridge.
"This might be the best show of this year," Eberle said.
Director Bob Clark said he chose this play because creator Ivan Menchall captured something that was true to life and bittersweet.
"This guy managed to put together the comedy of life and then turn you on to tears two minutes later," Clark said.
The actors in the play were one of the most cohesive groups and fell into place perfectly, he said.
"The Cemetery Club" is playing through April 8 at Theater on the Ridge in Paradise. For more information visit www.totr.org.
Liz Stigge can be reached at
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