Reagan Stage ends the year off with an eruption of laughter from the audience who attended the black box show, “Dearly Departed.” The play was hilarious and sentimental, bringing everything to life with realistic props, and some unexpected moments.
The cast did an excellent job on their characters and how different their personalities are. The play made everybody feel many emotions, especially making people laugh a lot. One significant character that made everybody laugh was Bud Turpin (Luke Bingham), he didn’t even have any speaking lines, just grunts and him walking around with his walker made the crowd chuckle with the noises he would make and him trying to get around the funeral home.
Some scenes even made the audience hold their breath on how intense it felt. One of those scenes in particular involved Suzanne (Mary Kimbrough) and Junior (Matthew Moran) talking in their car. At first it seemed funny because Suzanne kept yelling at her kids in the backseat while saying everything’s fine and she was happy, which made the audience chuckle, but then Junior pulls out a gun and explains how terrible his life is, which really flooded the audience with shock. This acting moment was amazingly realistic and adds to the whole play’s authenticity.
While watching the play you could definitely tell the thought that went into this play, especially when it comes to the props. One of my favorite details was the fact that almost all the props were real, from the food and drinks they ate like corn dogs, chips, and coke. One of the other funny scenes is when Delightful (Jane Hall) was given a drink, and while all the actors were walking around talking you saw her chuck the entire bottle in one sip. The audience was baffled, not expecting her to be able to finish the whole bottle.
Overall, the play was very enjoyable and hilarious. The audience feedback was nothing else but positive, many expressing their love to all the actors and actresses. They were even given gifts and compliments after the performance. Reagan Stage did a great job with this amazing performance. The play was entertaining, the actors were amazing, and really brought an amazing finale for the 2024-2025 school year.
