Ralph (Herman Peters) and Cheyenne (Erin Toner) help to position Jimmy (Vicky Roesch), a recently deceased man, on Ralph’s couch with hopes of fooling people arriving at the home for an event.
Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
The latest theatre production by the Plenty and District Community Players has brought death to life on stage in an interesting and oblivious manner.
The theatre group performed its rendition of a play called No Body Like Jimmy, written by Burton Bumgarner, over three nights on April 20-22 at the Plenty Community Hall. A full crowd enjoyed the food and entertainment on the opening night for the play.
Brea Olson, the host for the night, welcomed people to the group’s 29th community theatre production. She said the play is presented by the Community Recreation Organization of Plenty and the organization supports the skating rink, hall and sports teams in the community.
People had the option of roast beef or pork or both for supper, and the food was a tasty treat before the performance. Olson thanked the cooks and other volunteers including the stage crew and cast before the play started. Organizers were selling raffle tickets for the opportunity to win a wooden cooler stand.
The play was directed by Amber Roth and out of the 11 cast members, one person never had to say a word. The play was set in the living room of Ralph (Herman Peters) and Eloise (Crysta McDonald) Vanlandingham. Eloise was about to host a political fundraiser for her campaign to run for congress.
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Trouble is afoot early in the play when Cheyenne Smith (Erin Toner), Ralph’s ex-girlfriend, rings the door bell. Eloise, who has not made an appearance on stage, asks Ralph who is at the door. She is not impressed to hear it is Cheyenne.
Eloise enters the stage talking about how nothing good happens when Ralph and Cheyenne get together, and the last thing she needs is an ex-convict hanging around as she is running for congress. Oblivious to the fact Cheyenne has not left, she asks for help with her necklace. She then turns around to discover it was Cheyenne who helped.
After Eloise leaves, Cheyenne makes a plea for Ralph’s help and she asks if she could store something in his basement. He has his concerns with the request and asks Cheyenne to leave the home. Ralph is convinced she is up to no good.
Enter Baxter (John Schmold), a bumbling, lovable and drunk butler to the Vanlandinghams. The audience is then introduced to other key players including Diane Comstock (Alicia Harris), Eloise’s eager campaign manager, and Nigella Hudson (Jolene Richards), Eloise’s pompous speech writer.
The next ring of the doorbell changes everything. Cheyenne returns to the home and just as Ralph is asking her why she is there when he asked her to leave, she drags in a lifeless body (Vicky Roesch) on a blue tarp. A shocked Ralph asks Cheyenne what she has done.
Cheyenne says she did not do anything. She explains that she was asked by her boss, Michael De Lucciano, to clean his garage and she found the body lying inside. Cheyenne asks Ralph if she could put the body in his basement for the time being, and he says it is not a good idea with his wife in the middle of a political campaign.
After a funny exchange between Ralph and Cheyenne, two guests arrive. With no time to move the body anywhere, Cheyenne suggests put the body on the couch in a sitting position. That is when Rick (Dan Schmold) and Emma (Nicky Chester) Pitman arrive.
Rick, a wealthy cowboy and businessman, warns Ralph and Cheyenne that he is from Texas if they were wondering why he did not sound like everybody else. The Pitmans like to argue, often about illegal immigrants they employ.
Rick asks about the man sitting in the couch and that is when Cheyenne says his name is Jimmy. Rick asks, “is that blood” and Cheyenne tells the Pitmans that he got a bump on the head. Jimmy ends up with a bandage around his head, and a neck brace is added later. Everyone has conversations with Jimmy.
Eloise even sits down and starts talking to Jimmy, but Ralph and Cheyenne soon return. Eloise says she has been talking to Jimmy and “we have a problem.” Ralph apologizes and as he is trying to say he should have told her sooner, Eloise says she has been made aware of the Pitmans connection to illegal immigrants and it could be a concern because they are helping to fund her campaign.
The doorbell rings again and the audience is introduced to the play’s final two characters, Officer Linda (Cheryl Bacon) and Officer Cooper (Helena Olson). Linda is the veteran police officer with a hard-nosed attitude and Cooper is a rookie officer that knows too little.
Linda often tells Cooper to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself. The crowd got a kick out of Linda and Cooper’s relationship on stage. Linda starts asking people a bunch of questions to learn the identities of everyone at the home and, yes, she even asks Jimmy.
Ralph tells Linda the lifeless guest has a bit of a neck injury and he does not allow Linda to search the home. The officers later return with a search warrant and Linda tells everyone they received a report of someone bringing a dead body into the home. Eloise asks who made the report, Cooper tells her much to Linda’s dismay and Eloise suggests that the neighbour is very unreliable and a little crazy.
The second act takes place after the party has ended. It starts with Eloise and Ralph talking in the living room, but Jimmy is gone and Eloise is upset because she has lost her speech writer and campaign manager, along with the Pitman donation, due to all of the commotion with the police.
Cheyenne returns much to Ralph’s dismay. It turns out the Pitmans took Jimmy to their hotel, the Plenty Hotel, of course, as unwanted guest Cheyenne explains, and Ralph says they must get him back. The Pitmans end up dragging him back, and they believe they killed him.
At one point, the Pitmans, Diane and Nigella all return and all three of them believe they have killed Jimmy due to various reasons. One of the funnier moments happened when Baxter is talking to Jimmy. The lifeless body leans on Baxter before he gives Jimmy an elixir to cure hangovers, and the crowd had a good chuckle.
The butler returns a bit later and it is when he realizes Jimmy is dead. He reads the warning label on the elixir bottle and one of the side effects of drinking too much is death, and Baxter sneaks out of the room.
After a series of humourous exchanges, Linda and Cooper return and Linda starts asking people questions again. It does not take long for Linda to realize Jimmy is dead and as everyone starts to think they are going to jail, Linda says her experience as a paramedic suggests Jimmy died of a heart attack. The audience learns Jimmy is Michael De Lucciano’s cousin Vinnie that Michael was to testify against due to mob ties.
Linda suggests that no one is 100 per cent innocent, but she let everyone go. Eloise got her campaign staff back, along with a donation from the Pitmans. The play had several humourous interactions between the characters and Roesch’s lifeless character, so she ended up being the star of the show even though she never said a word.
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