Old Schoolhouse Players return with “Who Wants a Painted Lady?”
When the COVID-19 pandemic descended on the United States in March 2020 and the country began shutting down, the Old Schoolhouse Players had to scuttle a planned production of “The Addams Family” and put the community theater in mothballs.
Artistic director Cindy Berg decided to use the enforced hibernation to sit down and write a play that, at that point, was just at the outline stage.
“It was something to occupy my mind while I was here at home a lot,” said Berg, on the phone from her home outside West Middletown.
The world will get to see the fruit of her labors starting Friday when the Old Schoolhouse Players opens its season with “Who Wants a Painted Lady?” at the Bud Allison Memorial Auditorium in the Mt. Pleasant Township Community Center. Along with writing the comedy, Berg is also directing it.
“I’m excited about it, but also a little nervous about it,” Berg explained. “It’s a little bit like putting your baby out there in the world.”
“Who Wants a Painted Lady?” centers on a couple thinking about selling their beloved old Victorian home since they have joined the ranks of empty nesters. But then strange things start to happen as various people are brought in to resolve an assortment of problems. Berg said the play was inspired in part by “my love of history and my love of architecture,” though it’s not autobiographical.
“It’s (inspired by) family and friends and people I’ve met through the years,” Berg said. “It’s just a mixture of things. They have the attributes of people we meet and see all the time.”
Berg has previously written a few plays, with her first crack at it happening when she was in the fourth grade. A drama instructor at Canon-McMillan High School until her retirement in 2014, Berg has focused on Old Schoolhouse Players in the years since, doing everything from selecting plays to lending a hand with set design to baking cookies for patrons to munch on during intermission. The main challenge of directing her own play, she explained, is allowing actors to put their own spin on characters she created. When actors are given that freedom, “You get to see things you didn’t even think about.”
The process of writing “Who Wants a Painted Lady?” grew to be so all-consuming Berg had dreams with the characters in them, and in one they “were on stage wondering what happens next.”
The cast of “Who Wants a Painted Lady?” have all received the COVID-19 vaccine, as have Old Schoolhouse Players staffers. While no capacity restrictions are in place, masks are required and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be followed. Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday. It will also be presented at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22, and 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24.
For additional information, or to purchase a ticket, call 724-344-7467 or visit osptheater.com.