“Drop dead funny” Dearly Departed opens March 30 at Venice Theatre Living and dying in the south is seldom tidy and always hilarious

The popular southern comedy Dearly Departed opens on Venice Theatre's MainStage Tuesday, March 30, 2010. The show will run through Sunday, April 18, 2010 with performances Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and matinees on Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $24 for adults, $12 for students. Venice Theatre is grateful to Ewing Funeral Home for generously sponsoring the production.

Dearly Departed is a wacky and boisterous comedy that tells the story of the dysfunctional, yet strangely endearing Turpin family as they plan the funeral of their not-so-beloved patriarch, Bud. A show filled with colorful and eccentric misfits, Dearly Departed shows us that living and dying in the backwoods of the Bible belt is seldom tidy and always hilarious.

In Dearly Departed we meet Raynelle, who after 39 years of marriage to Daddy Bud decides all she wants engraved on his tombstone are two unflattering adjectives. Her Bible-thumping sister-in-law Marguerite comes to help lay Bud to rest, bringing her deadbeat son Royce along for the ride. Raynelle's eldest son Ray-Bud, a mechanic who hates funerals, struggles to scrape together enough cash for even the most modest of services. And he knows his younger brother Junior will be no help. A failed businessman suspected of cheating on his long-suffering wife Suzanne in the family car, Junior means well but can't get over the humiliation of his failures, the least of which are his “demon-possessed” children. The youngest Turpin heir is Delightful, a quiet, junk-food-devouring spinster who says very little but (with a fun twist of casting) will be sure to get many laughs. Added to the mix are an overly-enthusiastic organist, a fertile young woman with nine kids named after celebrities, the Joy of Life Singers and the town's former Yam Queen who gets away with saying anything to anybody as long as she ends each insulting comment with “bless their heart”.

Dearly Departed has become a staple of community theatres both south and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. When Venice Theatre produced it a decade ago as part of its Stage II Series, it was soon moved to the MainStage because of its popularity with patrons. In the end, a heartwarming show that celebrates family in all its quirky glory, Dearly Departed won the Drama League Award for best playwriting and was called “drop dead funny” by the New York Daily News.

The theatre is located at 140 W. Tampa Avenue on the island in Venice. Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday as well as one hour before all performances.