Doubling up

A lumber executive who is actually an escaped thief and a retired riverboat captain who thinks he’s a pirate.

A cabbage farmer’s widow and a mysterious out-of-towner.

A confident homeowners association president and a former pageant queen.

Jay County Junior-Senior High School Drama Club actors will perform in those dual roles and others as they take the stage in their production of “If a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood.”

The comedy by Brian Sylvia is designed for each of the five main performers to play multiple roles, which gives them a chance to stretch their acting chops, said director Cain Bilbrey.

“There's some fun characters,” he added. “Everybody in the show has to play two — there’s one who actually technically plays three — but everybody plays two characters. And so it gives the students and opportunity to really sink their teeth into and flip flop and remember who they are when they walk out … They get to vacillate between two difference characters. …

“Watching them get to grow and play the two different characters and develop two different voices and get two different looks, I think that challenges them.”

Aeroelet Cooke (left) and Maley Recker perform as Payton Livingston and Brandine Burrows, respectively, during Tuesday’s rehearsal. Performances of “If a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood” are scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight and Friday as well as 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)

 

The show — it opens at 7 p.m. tonight with additional performances at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday — features the eccentric residents of the Woodchuck Estates trailer community. A lumber executive who is actually an escaped thief, played by Ethan Spencer, arrives with hopes of buying the facility and its 200-plus acres of wooded property.

“He gets a chance to have … three different voices, three different distinct characters,” said Bilbrey. “It’s challenging for him. I think he’s going to do great with it.”

The executive/thief seems to fool all of the residents, who instead have their attention on Lucinda Sharpe, the mysterious out-of-towner played by senior Maley Recker.

Hijinks ensue as the over-the-top characters interact with each other.

Spencer also plays the retired riverboat captain who thinks he’s a pirate while Recker doubles as the cabbage farmer’s widow. 

“She’s grown leaps and bounds,” said Bilbrey. “She has a strong character. … She’s doing well. I like her accents. I like what she’s doing with that role.”

The rest of the cast includes Cheyenne Ladewig as the confident HOA president and a former pageant queen, Aeroelet Cooke as a teen aspiring journalist and the mayor, and Danielle Wright as an aging hippie activist and a retired Vaudeville writer.

There is also a local radio/TV personality via voice over and a handful of other roles.

“It leant itself to a small cast,” said Bilbrey. “It’s actually written to where it could be a male or a female in a lot of the roles. … It’s a cute show. It’s kinda quirky.”

Tickets for each performance are $5 and will be available at the door.

“I hope we get people to come out and see the show, support the drama club,” said Bilbrey. “We just want people to come out and enjoy it and support these kids. They work hard.”