By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
BELHAVEN — The Way Off Broadway Players of Belhaven have announced a cast list and are putting the finishing touches on its newest stage production.
“Come for the laughter and see what people will do for money,” said director George Wahab of “Heir Today — Gone Tomorrow,” a comedy that features a cast of eight thespians from Beaufort and Hyde counties.
Wahab, who teaches drama at Pungo Christian Academy, recruited one of his students as the ingenue in the production.
Hannah Byrd, a high-school junior, is cast as Pat, the female lead, in her first Way Off Broadway play. Joining Byrd on stage are Dean Armstrong as Billy Nelson, Austin Vann as Shoesmith, Lloyd Ballance as Officer Carter, Jake Dillon as Nigel Branson, Mandy Robbins as Jane Robinson, Mary Wahab as Margarette Nelson and Vicky Putnam as Annie. Along with Wahab as director, the show’s crew is comprised of LeAnna Holmes and Sam Putnam.
The show is slated to run Nov. 12-14 beginning nightly at 8 p.m. in the former Sears building, located next to EEii’s in Belhaven. Admission is $10 per person and seating is limited; call 252-943-3796 for reservations.
Wahab said he read several plays before deciding to stage “Heir Today — Gone Tomorrow” by Chris Petz.
“I ordered 15 plays back in the summer and started reading,” he said. “The play concerns unlikely situations, mistaken identity, female impersonators, wild parties, evil mothers, little orphan ugly, alcohol, fan dancing, hanky panky and serial killers.”
In the script, Wahab pointed out, Billy Nelson is set to inherit a fortune on his 31st birthday if he has remained pure throughout his life. But bizarre things begin to happen on the day he is expecting to become a rich man according to the guidelines set down in his late aunt’s will.
“All sorts of people appear at his house: his greedy mother, a suspicious cop, an absent-minded lawyer, an ugly ‘want-to-be’ girlfriend and a naked girl,” Wahab said. “If he can only convince the lawyer that he is innocent.”
“It’s all about normal people crazed by circumstances,” added Mary Wahab, who is cast as Billy’s greedy mother.
The troupe began rehearsing around Labor Day and has met twice weekly to polish the production in preparation for opening night.
“It takes us 10 weeks to do a play, that’s normally what we do,” George Wahab said. “We’ll start rehearsing for our next one in January or February and stage it in March.”
A dedicated group of community actors in Belhaven first began putting on plays around 1982, and out of that group came the Way Off Broadway Players, Wahab said. It became an official nonprofit organization several years ago, and the troupe stages an average of three plays annually.