Monticello
Opera House & Essential Theatrical Associates present:
Dearly
Departed
By David
Bottrell and Jessie Jones
Directed by
Bryan Mitchell
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.
July 17-20,
2025 at Monticello Opera House
Thursday,
Friday and Saturday shows at 8 pm
Saturday and
Sunday matinees at 2 pm
Lobby and Bar
open one hour prior to show start