SYNOPSIS

By: David Bottrell and Jessie Jones

Directed by: Kevin Russell

In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father’s funeral, the Turpins’ other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents.

As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, “When I die, don’t tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you.” Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral.

DEARLY DEPARTED is presented by special arrangement with Broad-way Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com).

CAST

Raynelle - Kim Knight
Ray-Bud - Jeremy Clifton
Lucille - Rebecca Boggs
Junior - Hunter Williams
Suzanne - Racheal Walsingham
Marguerite - Tiffani Wolfe
Royce - Jamison Trolard
Delightful - Sarah Bush
Veda - Joy Keegan
Norval - Lee Shook
Nadine - Shelby Brock
Clyde - Tyler Sallas
Jaunita - Hillary Kelly

JOY OF LIFE SINGERS
William Gillian, Ethan Parker, Sydney Smith, Maggie Clifton, Juliann Hutchinson, Barbara Dugas, Barbara Glaze, Nancy Bush