Searcy, Arkansas - Searcy Living: Your Hometown Magazine

CEMETERY CLUB
Media Contact: Lana Hallmark 501-368-0111

Capping off the 9th season of the Performing Arts Center on the Square located at 111 West Arch in Searcy is the poignant and hilarious play entitled “The Cemetery Club,” by Alan Menchell. Show dates are May 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 30, and 31 with dinner served at 6:30 p.m. and curtain one hour later. The matinee performance will be June 1 with lunch served at 12:30 p.m. and curtain one hour later.

In “The Cemetery Club,” Three Jewish widows meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husband's graves. Ida is sweet tempered and ready to begin a new life, Lucille is a feisty embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun, and Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene. He meets the widows while visiting his wife's grave. Doris and Lucille squash the budding romance between Sam and Ida, with lots of laughs along the way.

“We feel that this show will speak to everyone, but especially to our senior patrons. It was chosen specifically for Mother’s Day as well,” said Lana Hallmark, Executive Director of Center on the Square and Producer of the show. “We are offering special promotions for both Senior Groups and for Mother’s Day gift certificates. ‘The Cemetery Club’ is sweet and funny, and it really has a lot to say about that time of life.”

Director Mike Woodall, the newest member of the Center on the Square family, joined the staff in February. Audiences will remember him from his performances as Bob Crachit in “A Christmas Carol,” and as Moonface Martin in “Anything Goes.” Mike recently returned to Searcy from the Seattle area where he has been working in professional theater, and is thrilled to be directing his first production at Center on the Square.

The ensemble cast consists of Center on the Square veterans Ann Nieto, Dorothy Hatfield, Nancy Liles, Tommie Pemberton, Nona Cheatham and Chip Braswell. “Working with such a seasoned and experienced group of performers has been a real joy, and the show is absolutely hilarious,” Woodall said. “The story is one that speaks to people of all ages. No one is going to want to miss this one.”

Reservations are available now for dinner shows by contacting Center on the Square in Searcy at 501-368-0111. Show-only tickets are available 15 minutes before curtain at each performance. Admission for dinner to the evening performances is $27 regular and $24 for seniors. Reservations for dinner are required at least 24 hours in advance. Show only admission is $13.50 for all performances and seating is limited to space available. Chesapeake Energy is the season sponsor, while Entergy and Powell Funeral Home are sponsoring this production.

Center on the Square is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to the appreciation and expansion of the performing arts in the region. Programming at Center on the Square is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Arts Council, a division Arkansas Department of Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Contributions are tax deductible. Center on the Square is handicapped accessible for all performances and interpretation for the deaf is available at the Thursday evening performance of the show by request.

Go to Center on the Square's website here.

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