“Local theatre is so important, it tells stories that you don’t normally hear anywhere else,” said Tanya-Leigh Maguire, the play’s director. “It gives people the opportunity to socialize that they normally wouldn’t have.”

Due to the pandemic, the play’s attendenace was limited because public health restrictions did not allow the audience to be at full capacity.

“Last year we could only have about 40 people come to each show, so we couldn’t get a lot of people into the theatre,” said Greg Graham, the president of the Pontiac Community Players.

This was a shame to Graham and Maguire who believed this show to be one of the funniest plays to date. A decision was made by the actors and Maguire to perform the show for a second year in a row.

“So few people saw the show, so we felt comfortable putting it on again because it’s a really funny show,” said Maguire. “We’re still laughing and that’s an excellent sign.”

The Pontiac Community Players were unanimous in their opinion that the COVID-19 pandemic was destructive to all theatre, however they believed that it was something that they could work around. They implemented blocking tactics on stage to keep all physical contact between actors to a minimum.

“We kept our contact to a minimum until the very end. Even during the kissing scenes we’ve staged it so it looks like it’s happening but we’re actually nowhere near each other just to be doubly safe,” described Maguire.

Though the circumstances made it more challenging, the silver lining was being able to put on the same play for the second year in a row. Maguire said that this allowed the group to perfect their knowledge of the play.

“To be able to come back to these characters where everyone actually knows what they’re doing, we’re able to delve into a side of the play that we haven’t been able to do before,” said Maguire.

The play is called Out of Order by Ray Cooney. It’s “a silly British farce with comings and goings and scandal and ridiculous situations,” said Graham. “It is the fun comedy that we love to do here.”

The play will take place August 25-28. Tickets will be available for purchase at Coronation Hall.

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