REGION — The Sandy River Players (SRP) are returning to the stage after an extended hiatus caused by the pandemic. SRP will put on a run of Lend Me a Tenor, a comedy by Ken Ludwig.

Mt. Blue music teacher Ethan Wright is directing the play and has just held a first read through following auditions last week.

“I wanted to do a play that was really really funny and upbeat and high energy and exciting so that people would come out and have a really fun time,” Wright said. “It’s a great way to give back, we’re back and theater’s going to come back huge.”

Set in 1930s Chicago, the play is about an opera company that has hired “the world’s greatest tenor,” Tito Morelli to perform for them. Chaos ensues when Morelli “gets knocked out and is unable to perform” and the company tries to replace him with the stage manager.

“There’s a lot of lying and misunderstandings and doors opening and closing and constant funny, hilarious craziness throughout the whole play,” Wright said.

Bruce Ibarguen, a Sandy River Players board member who will play Saunders, said he is looking forward to developing his comedic timing for the show.

“The cast is strong, to say the least. Ethan’s going to be great as a director and I’m really looking forward to it,” Ibarguen said.

The Sandy River Players’ long-awaited return to the stage follows a year and a half of uncertainty after SRP had to cancel their run of Mamma Mia! at the start of the pandemic.

Wright said that the financial situation for the Sandy River Players became pretty dire after that.

“When you rent the rights to do a show and start paying for the set and other things like that, you put a lot of money into it and then to not be able to perform it is pretty devastating to the bank account,” Wright said.

Ibarguen said that SRP reached a point where they were “shutting off the water at the Playhouse.”

“That’s how tough times got for us,” Ibarguen said.

However, a recent production of The Little Mermaid by The Sandy River Players Summer Youth Music Theatre Camp has revived SRP.

“It’s almost like to make money you have to spend money in theater, you have to do a show and make money and from that do another show, make more money,” Wright said. “The point also of Sandy River Players is not to have tons of money but to have just enough to put up high-quality productions. Sort of like the last one pays for the next one.”

Wright added that a run of Mamma Mia! is still on the table once the theater company has raised enough funds.

For now, Wright is looking forward to bringing community theater back to the region.

“I just believe that the arts are incredibly important,” Wright said.  “Especially now with the pandemic coming back, people want to go out and see theater and be artistic and creative and find ways to connect with other people and go out and just forget all your troubles for a night and see a play.”

Wright said he cast the play with actors “who are willing to put themselves out there and just be creative and crazy and go with the flow … and work really hard.”

The cast includes:

•  Tim Berry as Tito Merelli

•  Bruce Ibarguen as Saunders

•  Peter Osbourne as Max

•  Henry Robbins as Bellhop

•  Sarah Irish as Maria

•  Brianna Rush as Maggie

•  Annie Norris as Diana

•  Anne Crump as Julia

Lend Me a Tenor will run from Oct. 1-3. Tickets and information about a gala, which SRP plans to host alongside the play, will be released in early September.

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