Play teaches life lessons

Stuck in a church basement during a storm, five women learned a lot about life and each other last weekend. The church basement was the stage at The Paradise Center in Paradise and the women were five actors displaying their talents in The Paradise Players' presentation of "The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church."

The play is set in the 1970s and portrays a minister's wife who always knows just what the gorup needs to do, a mother of nine, a former nurse, a private detective and a woman on the run. Throughout the 2.5-hour play, the women bicker, vent to each other, cry, dance, sing, and leave as friends with a better understanding of each other's circumstances.

Kathleen Hubka played the lead role of Bea Littleton, the minister's wife, and also directed the play. Deborah Davis portrayed Lorraine Jenson, the mother of nine whose sarcastic sense of humor led to many giggles from the audience. "The Charitable Sisterhood" was the third Paradise Players play for Rochelle Caldwell, a registered nurse who portrayed a former nurse in last weekend's production.Rashell Jones, a nurse at Clark Fork Valley Hospital, played Janet Murchison, a private detective who goes under cover in a small town looking for a fugitive who allegedly shot her husband dead, played by Franchesca Nass. This was the first time acting in a Paradise Players production for Jones and Nass, whose son brant also provided voices offstage of a radio announcer and sheriff's deputy.

The scene is set in the basement of a church where the women are getting together to sort through donations for victims of a tsunami.

In the play, the audience had laughs of the bossy antics of Littleton (plaed by Hubka) and the efforts of Lorraine (played by Davis) to have the others remember that anything they did without Bea's instruction first would just have to be redone.

Murchison (played by Jones) is the new gal in town and comes to help the women sort through the donations, only to be hounded with questions about her background and her reported husband that the other women don't believe exists.

The stage was set with piles of donations, which the actors had help gathering from Little Bitterroot Thrift Store in Plains. At one point during the production, a large pile of donations moves and it is discovered that Riley (played by Nass) was hiding inside. Murchison recognizes Riley as a woman who shot her husband and is on the run. Throughout the rest of the play, the women divulge feelings and secrets and learn that not everything is at it seems. Eventually, they are rescued and make a plan for Riley, who explains that she shot her husband in self defense after years of abuse, to hire an attorney to help her build her case.

The play was performed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Following Sunday's performance, Karen thorson with The Paradise Center presented Hubka with a bouquet of flowers and thanked the actors and the audience for supporting the arts.

The Paradise Center has a variety of events planned throughout the year. On Sunday, April 10, The Empire Trio will perform, and an art camp for kids will be held in June. On June 28, author John Maclean will speak at the center, and the annual Artists in Paradise exhibit and sale will return in July. On September 30, Fubuki Diako, a group of Japanese drummers, will perform. The final event on the schedule is composer, pianist and visual artist Scott Kirby, set to perform on October 28.

For more information about events at The Paradise Center or future performances by The Paradise Players, visit paradisecentermt.org.