NEWBERRY — With Thanksgiving fresh on their minds, the cast of “A Nice Family Gathering” begins memorizing their lines for Newberry Community Player’s spring dinner theater.

A family holiday gathering is great material for comedy all by itself, but what if you added the ghost of a Dad who decided to haunt his family on the first Thanksgiving after his passing. The only one who can hear him is the middle son who one of these days will get a real job like his older brother.

Is the older brother’s life so perfect? Will his wife ever get pregnant? Will the baby sister ever get married? Why did Mom invite Dad’s old golf buddy to spend Thanksgiving with them?

The Newberry Community Theater is proud to announce the cast who will tackle all of these questions in the spring dinner theater production of “A Nice Family Gathering.”

The cast will be lead by producer Sandy Steffen who will play Helen Lundeen (the mother) – a part she is reprising from a recent Chapin Theatre Company production.

The middle son (Carl Lundeen), who can see and hear the ghost of his dad, will be played by Joseph Schroer. Schroer just directed “Into the Woods” for the Newberry College Theatre.

The eldest son (Dr. Michael Lundeen) will be played by Scott Senn. Senn also starred in NCP’s fall dinner theater production called “Murder at the Howard Johnson’s.” His onstage wife (Jill Lundeen) will be played by Martha Bellows, who is making her NCP onstage premiere.

The youngest child and only girl of the family (Stacey) will be played by Hayley Hunt, who also appeared in “Rocky Horror” this fall.

Hunt’s real life dad, Dr. Corey Hunt, will play her onstage dad (the ghost). This is the third dinner theater production in which Dr. Hunt has participated. Hugh Lister is returning to the stage to play Mom’s new “boyfriend” (Jerry).

Director Bonnie Lyon shared her excitement commenting, “It’s a funny play. Guys especially will laugh at the exasperated Dad—even if they are dragged to the play by their wives, maybe especially if they are dragged.”

Lyon bragged about her cast saying, “I know the cast will work together well and give a great performance because of they have had lots of experience on stage. Plus an actual family dynamic is created when you work together to create a play, and it shows on stage.”

Production

“A Nice Family Gathering” will be presented at the Country Club of Newberry, located at 414 Country Club Road on Feb. 15-16, 22-23 at 6:30 p.m. The three course meal will be provided by Goodies by Design.

Tickets

Tickets for this dinner theater comedy are $40 (meal included /cash bar). Discounted prices are available for groups. Advance tickets are recommended and are already available through the Newberry Opera House Box Office at 276-6264 or online at newberryoperahouse.com. A $1 facility fee per ticket and a $3 per order handling fee will be charged.

Volunteer with NCP

To learn more about getting involved with a Newberry Community Players production including in an offstage role for “A Nice Family Gathering” please call NCP Chair Ellen Hunt at 803-924-7158.

“The onstage cast is, of course, essential but there are so many more people involved in a production. Someone donating a few nights to set construction, costume gathering, or simply putting up posters can make a huge difference to a production. All are welcome and encouraged to be a part of our NCP family,” stated Ellen Hunt.