The Cemetery Club
written by Ivan Menchell
directed by Autumn Browne

October 2007
Huntington Beach Playhouse

Every month Ida, Doris and Lucille meet for tea, then are off to the cemetery to remember the good times and gossip with their deceased husbands. Sam meets the widows and changes their lives forever!

Cast and Crew

Stage Manager Jonna Hutchinson and
Director Autumn Browne ...
you can see who is really in charge!

L-R: Beth Titus (Ida), Autumn Browne (Director),
Suzanne Grady (Mildred), Ron Rudolph (Sam),
Jonna Hutchinson (Stage Manager),
Dee Shandera (Lucille), Mary Hall (Doris)

What a glorious opportunity to work on a play that celebrates women! Despite the title of our production, this show is about life, love, and friendship. It rejoices in the closeness one can feel with another person, and reminds us that great friends, like great wine, get better with passing time. Each age has its own special wonders, attractions, magic, and beauty, but in the words of the immortal Lucille Ball, "The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age". And remember, you're never too old for slumber parties!
                                        ~  Autumn Browne

Lucille: "That's what I said. Four years ago today. Who could forget? A wonderful man taken much too soon."

Doris: "So let's see, what happened since we spoke last?"

Lucille: "So what are you doing later?"

Mildred: "Can you believe he's selling the butcher shop?"

Sam:  "My twenty-fifth anniversary present was a double bypass. At least it was something I could use."

Act II Scene 2 - after the wedding

* * * * * * *


Ida: "There has to be a reason for me to want to look good?"

Lucille: "It took me two months to lose the weight I gained that night."

Set designed by Michael Buss

For cemetery scenes, a drop cloth painted by Andrew Otero was pulled across the apron, with headstones placed downstage.

"Full of quippy comedy and sharply-observed comments on life and death, The Cemetery Club has a plot that is both predictable and poignant, yet in the capable hands of director Autumn Browne, the Huntington Beach production hits all the right notes. The humor comes out at the right times and in the proper doses, while the pathos is appropriately measured for maximum effect.  Browne's staging is fluid and unobtrusive, letting the story unfold effortlessly without unnecessary stage clutter or awkward movements. She has guided her actors into appropriate characterizations that could have gone overboard into caricatures, yet come off as believable people in believable situations."

~  Chris Trela / OC Weekly

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