Senior College Players Bridget Remington, from left, John Reilly and Lainey Cross rehearse at Bear River Grange in Newry for their upcoming performances in November. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
NEWRY — Peals of laughter come from the other actors watching at the back of the room in the Bear River Grange as Rosabelle Tifft, of Bethel and Gail Parent, of Hanover, rehearse, “The Sneeze.”
The two veteran actors are spot on as they rehearse one of the five plays for The Western College Senior Players’ productions on Nov. 17 and 18 at Gould Academy’s McLaughlin Center. Tifft has been on stage since 2007, when Senior Players was started.
Before Tifft and Parent take center stage at Newry’s Bear River Grange, Marianne Goff, of Bethel; Lia Paliocha, of Newry; Bridget Remington, of Albany Township; Mary Hickey, of Rumford; John Reilly, of Newry; and Lainey Cross, of Bethel; play the ‘Red Hat Ladies.’ Tom Hoy, of Bethel, is the waiter in the play.
Facilitator Reilly, careful not to give away too much, describes the play like this, “investment and love both have their ups and downs. And just when you think you’ve got it figured out.”
Marianne Goff and the Western Maine Senior College Players rehearse at Bear River Grange in Newry for their upcoming performances in November. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
“Charlene” the shy, introvert is played by Bridget Remington. Anyone who knows Remington would call this a ‘miscast’ — until you see her out there with her hand over her face and her eyes downcast.
As “Roseanne,” Lainey Cross pulls off a Southern accent with ease. Later, Cross says she has watched a lot of Golden Girls on tv and Blanche Devereaux played by Rue McClanahan is where her inspiration comes from.
Mary Hickey, of Rumford, plays a hypochondriac. “I like that, I put all the pills out. I have a pill for a headache, a pill for this, and a pill for that.”
No one invests more as, ‘one of the ladies,’ than Reilly, who dresses in drag, and wears a red hat, like the others.
Before the rehearsals start, Cross takes publicity photos of the actors who group according to the skit they are performing. Some strike poses that seem strange now, but will make sense by show night.
Senior College Players Rosabelle Tifft, left, and Gail Parent practice, “The Sneeze.” Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
“The Players,” although amateur thespians, says Reilly, challenge themselves in the art of theater and are anxious to highlight their talents for their friends and neighbors. He adds that they follow the senior theater tradition of carrying their scripts on stage. He promises the players will be both, sweet and salty at their performances this year.
Other plays
Four of the plays are written by outside authors but, “Mythological Icon Lament,” was written by Reilly. It’s his first crack at writing a script and is a prologue to, “The Tooth Hurts,” a play the group performed last year. The Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny comically vent their complaints of ‘kids these days.’ Reilly weaves in some local tidbits, too, like this, “I had to give up my apartment in town. I’m living in a yurt over behind the Albany township dump…er…transfer station. Wrapped some of that Typar stuff around it—keeps the taxes down.”
In last year’s “The Tooth Hurts,” Leon is training to be the Tooth Fairy. In Icon Lament, he is now the actual Tooth Fairy, and Mavis (the actual Tooth Fairy in the Tooth Hurts) has retired. “He’s now realized the job is not all fancy costumes and magic Fairy dust,” says Reilly. Bill Corrigan, of West Bethel, plays Mike (Santa); Tom Hoy is Dan (the Easter Bunny); John Reilly is Leon (the Tooth Fairy), Rosabelle Tifft is Mavis (the Tooth Fairy Emeritus), and Tim LeConey, of Bethel is the Boogie Man.
Senior College Players, Lia Paliocha, left, and Gail Parent share a laugh at rehearsal. Of joining the group two years ago, Paliocha said, “first I had to admit I was a senior.” Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen
Fourth in the line-up of plays is, “The Man and His Plant.” It stars Tim Laconey as Hooper and a half dead plant; Bill Schuellein, of West Bethel, as the Mail Carrier; Lia Paliocha as Mrs Kreb; Mary Hickey as Mrs. Arnold; and Bill Corrigan as Ben Arnold. Reilly’s description, “Some couples were meant to be and just can’t live without each other.”
Finally, “The DMV Tyrant,” is a play about a bureaucratic catch-22. Marianne Goff plays the DMV Tyrant, and Lainey Cross is the Customer.
Besides the actors, Jack Kuchta, of Hanover, is working on costumes and props; Ray Leghart, of Bethel, will do lighting; and Chuck Hurd of Albany Township, will do stage set-up.
“Welcome, sit back, and let yourself go,” says Reilly, “We hope to have you rolling in the aisle by the end of the show.”
Performances are on Friday Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. and Saturday Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. at the McLaughlin Center at Gould Academy, Bethel. Performances are free, donations to offset production costs are welcome.
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