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'Nice People Dancing' unique offering in community theater Something for everyone in tale of ex-biker in love

There's a surprise in store for audience members from the moment the curtain opens at "Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music."

That's the latest play from the Masquers Theater in Soap Lake and it's enough of a surprise that director Beverly Hasper is trying to keep it a secret.

Matter of fact, she doesn't want to talk about the plot all that much, either.

The cast is keeping fairly mum as well about story details, although they will share a little of the preparation involved in their characters.

Here's what we do know: Eric Suitter plays Jim Stools, a former biker who was forced to give up the life when he kind of fell in love with Eve Wilfong, played by Margaret Mazeski, while changing planes in an airport. Eve and Jim live in an apartment over his bar in the rough part of Houston. Eve's son, Jason, a.k.a Jay-Bob, (played by Mark Sieverkropp) is spending the summer with them, much to Jim's chagrin. Also visiting is Eve's niece Catherine (Cory Tempel), who has attracted the romantic attentions of barfly Roy Manual (played by Raul Harnasch), Jim's friend.

"I thought it would be a really fun play to do, and I thought people would have a good time doing it," Hasper said. "The story is about regular people. There's nothing high-brow about it. It's just about people that you might know or you might not know. It's about people that are kind of country people, maybe, like you'd find around here. I thought people could maybe relate to this."

Directing challenges include a major set move in the middle of play and nailing the timing that is critical in comedy, Hasper said.

"It presents some ideas that, while they are a little off the wall, they're still kind of deep and interesting," she said. "It's not your usual thing that you're going to see in a theater. I think that's probably one of the things that drew me to it — it's very unusual in a play. It's not the standard kind of thing you're going to see in a lot of community theaters."

Hasper said that the play will appeal to a broad audience.

"It's a flat-out comedy; there's physical comedy and there's stuff you have to think about but you will find it funny," Tempel said.

"It represents everybody, everybody can identify with it," Sieverkropp said.

In playing a part that he describes as an annoying teenager, Sieverkropp said he has only to look back on his childhood to get into character.

"It was a lot of what I saw in myself and my friends, so it wasn't much of a stretch for me," he said. "I see a lot of myself and a lot of what I grew with in my family and stuff, so it's something I grew up with."

Same goes for Tempel, who said she was so excited to get Hasper's call to participate in the play that she immediately said yes.

"(My character) is kind of uptight, but she's slowly breaking out of that shell and realizing that there's more to the world than what little she's seen of it," she said. "I'm rather naive myself sometimes, and so I looked at myself, kind of how I raised, the things I've seen and the things that I know I haven't seen and just kind of used that to put forth a character."

Suitter said he usually finds something about every part that he plays to like.

"I'm playing the part of an ex-biker who gave up being a biker because he fell in love, and his new old lady said, 'Nope, can't do that no more,'" Suitter said of Jim Stools. "One of the things that makes the character interesting is how I'm making that adjustment."

Suitter said he enjoys the feeling that live theater offers of performing without a safety net.

"It's like a high-wire act with no net," he said. "Once we're on the stage, we're totally on our own resources and we have to produce a show that the people will find interesting. And they can come watch us and see if we make it without falling off the high-wire."

Evening performances of "Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music" are at 8 p.m. July 30 and 31 and August 6,7,13 and 14. Sunday matinees are at 3 p.m. August 8 and 15. For reservations, call the box office at 246-2611.