“Dearly Departed” performed by the Pell City Players

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Thursday night was the opening night for The Pell City Center’s rendition of the play “Dearly Departed.” The script and actors drew out laughs from the crowd throughout the southern comedy, which termed: “Relatives can be hazardous to your health.”

With nearly 20 actors participating in “Dearly Departed,” the comedic tragedy set somewhere just below the Mason-Dixon Line, the cast had to bring out their deepest southern roots, and that’s just what they did. 

With a great reaction from the crowd, Pell City Players’ veteran actors and newbies wowed the crowd. One very important veteran and director of the show is Kathy McCoy. McCoy was the executive director of the Pell City Center for almost seven years and is now the artistic director. As founder of the Pell City Players and with 14 productions under her belt, McCoy has a lot to be proud of. “I have been fortunate to have directed community theatre for 22 years. Exciting, challenging and always rewarding, community theatre serves as a catalyst to bring the whole community together,” said McCoy. “And the Pell City Players have been doing a fine job of this for the past seven years in their musicals, comedies and dramas. I am proud to be their director!”

Some other cast members in “Dearly Departed” who are long standing Pell City Players include Brenda McKay, who came in 2008 and Danielle Daly who has been performing for the past 6 years. Also performing many roles in his past is Garret Bell who is a junior at Lincoln High School, and another student at JSU, Kyle Holland, who just recently joined the group. McCoy said that she feels that there is a lot to be said for what the community theatre has done for students in surrounding communities. “A lot of our kids have gone on from our plays to major in theatre,” said McCoy.

With the Pell City’s Players success and reputation, it is no wonder that so many people are starting to join the fun and creative group. Allen Morgan who performed a lead role in “Dearly Departed” said that he is incredibly excited to be joining the Pell City Players. And veterans like Wendy Dewberry, who was recognized by the Alabama Conference of Theatre as the Best Supporting Actress of 2009, Julie Funderburg, who is an active member and supporter of the Pell City Players and David Foote, who has seldom missed a production are very thankful for all of the rewarding moments that they have spent at the Pell City Center over the years. 

McCoy said that she could not be more thankful for all of her “players” and the experiences she has had with them for the past seven years. “They’re an extremely devoted group of people,” McCoy said. “We don’t know what we would do without our players.” 

McCoy has had the pleasure of meeting new people that join the group and seeing the Pell City Players expand into a sort of family over the 14 productions they have shared. But she hopes to see more join the team, and she hopes to see new faces at the upcoming plays. 

McCoy said that next year would be a busy yet exciting year with the production of three plays. The production of  “Duck Hunter Shoots Angel” is anticipated for October and “South Pacific,” the musical, is scheduled for February 2015. And April 2015 is the expected month for “Southern Hospitality.” The Pell City Center and Pell City Players hope to see you and your friends at all of their upcoming productions.