NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Quality of Life is a play at Stage 9 in Hutchinson taking the stage this weekend. The play revolves around two couples dealing with moral, ethical, and religious beliefs as one couple faces the murder of a daughter and the other couple faces cancer.
This poignant drama deals with issues many of us face with hope providing a motif throughout the play. Stage 9’s production is directed by Jo Stropes. There is also quite a bit of humor in the play.
"The author, Jane Anderson, is very good at sprinkling humor throughout the script," Stropes said. "The audience isn't brought to a terrible state of depression by the time they leave the theater. It's quite a funny show."
Much of the humor comes from the different social experiences of the two couples in the play. Dinah (Lisa Sack) and Jeanette (Gaye Tibbets) are distant cousins, both geographically and spiritually. Dinah and Bill (Mike Saunders) are Midwesterners holding fast to their Christian beliefs while mourning the death of their daughter. Jeanette and Neil (Ron Sylvester) are free-spirited academics clinging to their own spiritual beliefs while dealing with tragedy. They have been burned out of their home and are living in a yurt while Neil battles terminal cancer. Anderson was a writer on the AMC show Mad Men shortly after writing this play.
"If you think of Mad Men and those dialogues, you have these long passages, but then you have these really, really short back and forth conversations," said Ron Sylvester, who plays Neil. "To me, those are the hardest to remember, when you only have two words, but you have to put them in at the right time. It's really got a nice rhythm to it."
Quality of Life is a play with adult themes, so it is best viewed by older teens and above. The show runs August 10-12, 7:30 p.m. and August 13 at 2 p.m. at Stage 9, 9 South Main. Tickets may be purchased in advance at stage9hutch.com or at the door. The box office opens 1 hour before show time and the house opens at 30 minutes prior to curtain.
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