STAGE REVIEW 'Dearly Departed' offers a lively spoof

This production proves that funerals are not always deadly serious.
By MARGARET NERY
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
SALEM -- What should have been a grave situation became a highly amusing production at Salem Community Theatre where "Dearly Departed" opened on Friday night.
Written by David Bottrell and Jesse Jones, this delightfully irreverent tribute to death is basically the story of the beleaguered Turpin family as it prepares to bury Daddy Bud Turpin (Emmett Hughes) who fell dead, face down, into his dish of cereal.
Set in the backwoods of the Bible Belt, "Dearly Departed" proves beyond a doubt that living or dying can at times be anything but deadly serious.
Although they try to support one another in their time of need, things become a little chaotic as members of the dysfunctional Turpin family, beset by their own personal problems, find it hard to concentrate on funeral arrangements.
Descriptive inscription
Only one thing seems to be engraved in stone and that is the epitaph Daddy Bud's widow, Raynelle (Nancy Wolf), has ordered for his tombstone: "Mean and Surly." It is evident that he may be gone but not forgotten.
When the funeral bills begin to mount up, one of the Turpin sons, Ray-Bud (Chris Saling), tells his long-suffering wife, Lucille (Tina Grim), "When I die, don't tell nobody, just bury me in the back yard and tell everyone I left you."
Junior (Roger Gaskins), the youngest Turpin son, is not only a financial failure but is driven to distraction by his (invisible) monster kids and by the constant nagging of his wife, Suzanne (Cheryl Pierce).
She continually harps on the fact that she thinks he has been unfaithful to her "in the family car" with a really ugly woman who picked him up in the Walmart parking lot.
And then there is Delightful (Katie Fife), who copes with life and death the same way -- by stuffing herself with all the junk food in sight.
Adding to the confusion is Daddy Bud's Bible-quoting, hymn-singing sister, Marguerite (Deneen Green), who is certain that her heathen brother is "roasting on the end of a pitchfork," and her shiftless, lackadaisical son, Royce (Russell Dillon).
Interrupted service
Doing his best to maintain the dignity of the burial ceremony but failing completely as he suffers from a Mexican food malady is the Rev. Hooker (Bruce Marhefka).
Among those paying their last respects in a dubious manner during this lively charade are Mary Beth Morse as Veda, Kyle Snyder as Norval, Jennifer Zepernick as Nadine and Sue Vollmar as Juanita.
The responsibility of directing this irreverent undertaking was left up to Morse, who managed to dig up the excellent cast. Altogether, they finally put Bud to rest in his ballet slippers.
This is not a hootin'-hollerin' hilarious production, but instead a series of amusing vignettes that reveal the foibles of a group of well-meaning misfits.
If you don't appreciate redneck humor, the amusing production of "Dearly Departed" may turn your evening into a deadly experience. Otherwise, go and enjoy this somewhat sacrilegious look at life and death.
I must add a disclaimer: Since these eccentric characters may seem to be caricatures of real people, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.