The Kauai Community Players is looking for a few good men and women to star in a light-hearted comedy about occasionally dysfunctional family dynamics and the journey that comes with mending them. This play, called the “Prodigal Father,” centers around
The Kauai Community Players is looking for a few good men and women to star in a light-hearted comedy about occasionally dysfunctional family dynamics and the journey that comes with mending them.
This play, called the “Prodigal Father,” centers around a free-spirited novelist and sailor who finally locates his estranged son, a straight-laced attorney, whom he hasn’t seen in years.
“It’s about their relationship and trying to bridge the rift that developed over the years, but it’s all extremely funny,” Kauai Community Players Treasurer Dottie Bekeart said. “We loved it because it’s a very light comedy and that’s what we needed in our season.”
In the three-act comedy, written by Philadelphia author and playwright Richard E. Peck, Bekeart describes the father as “a wild character and ne’er-do-well” who abandons his family.
The man’s son, as a consequence, never forgave his father’s shortcomings and becomes “a straight-laced lawyer type” to avoid becoming like his father.
The comedy, Bekeart said, underscores the inability of some men to express their love.
“The writing is just really excellent and it’s very entertaining,” Bekeart said. “We just thought it would be very good for our season and that people would really like it.”
Auditions will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Puhi Theatrical Warehouse, 4411-E Kikowaena Road.
Peck, who wrote “Prodigal Father,” will also be directing the production, which will be playing for three weekends in a row beginning on April 9.
“I grew up in the Midwest and it’s frigid in personality as well as temperatures,” Peck said. “My father never said he loved me, though I had no doubt that he did, but that’s not something that most American men are comfortable doing, certainly not to other men, but to women, sure, it’s perfectly fine. From the way the play sounds, it seems dreary, but it’s actually a very funny play.”
In all, Kauai Community Players are searching for five people to play five characters in the play, including two women and a man in their 20s or 30s, and a man and a woman in their 40s and 50s.
For more information, call Bekeart at 635-6475.
