The first character walks on stage and it is pin-drop silence until the first joke is said and the room fills with laughter, setting the ambiance for the night.

Continuing with tradition, the Pontiac Community Players put on the summer show performing Funny Money by Ray Cooney at Coronation Hall. The play ran for four nights from the 24th to the 27th.

“It was just amazing, the thrill, the rush, the adrenaline when it’s all over and it’s addictive once you get involved in community theatre it’s hard to stop,” said Greg Graham, a member of the Pontiac Community Players.

Marking their 13th year of community theatre since the opening of Coronation Hall Cider Mills in 2008, THE EQUITY spoke to Graham, who reminisced about the summers they held shows. Graham said he remembers Connor Stephens, their male lead actor, was about six years old when he first auditioned for a play with them.

“It’s been quite some time and a lot of those young people in it have been involved as kids and kind of grown up with it, which has been really fantastic,” said Graham.

With a really great audience ready to laugh and have a good time, opening night was better than they hoped, Graham said. People were cheering them on and had a good time, he said. “I sometimes remind everyone backstage, the audience is on our side. They want to be entertained and they will lose themselves.”

They chose Funny Money because it’s a play that involves characters who end up lying and scheming to try to get what they want, which leads to ridiculous extremes and lots of opportunities for humour. They also chose it for the challenge, according to Graham.

“I think this was probably the most difficult one we’ve ever attempted,” he said. “In terms of the number of lines. There was an incredible amount of memorization going on. So it was challenging that way and challenging just in the timing and the type of humour.”

They started rehearsing once a week from May to July and then twice a week in August. A week before the play they spent five hours on Monday and Tuesday before opening night.

This year Graham stepped up to the director chair as it is always a mix to allow people to take on different roles.

For him, he said he enjoyed working with the actors and seeing how everyone interpreted the characters.

“They get to decide how they’re going to play this character and how it works. And then just seeing them kind of discover things about the play,” he said.

The Pontiac Community Players will be planning things for Christmas and a winter show at Pontiac High School. Nothing is set in stone just yet, though Graham highlighted it is in the works.

“We’re really proud of how it went and right now we all just need to sleep. Once we’ve all rested. We’re excited to do it again,” said Graham.

The Pontiac Community players held their summer theatre show at Coronation Hall for the 13th year in a row. The play they chose this year, Funny Money is a fun comedy and a challenging one said Greg Graham.

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