Good news! Those “un-convent-ional” nuns (minus one) from last year’s hilarious play, “Drinking Habits” are back in the sequel “Drinking Habits 2 – Caught in the Act.” If it’s possible, they’re even funnier than before. All of the actors from the original reprise their roles.
In case you didn’t see the first “Drinking Habits,” here’s a brief summary to get you up to speed. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here.
In the original, four nuns inhabit the convent−Sister Augusta, played by Lynda Dilts-Benson; Sister Philomena, portrayed by Maggi Phillipi; Mother Superior, played by Susan Grey; and Sister Mary Catherine, portrayed by Mia Knapp.
In the sequel, Sister Mary Catherine has left the convent to marry the gardener George, played by Keith Surplus. She is now known as Kate and is due to deliver twins any day, now.
Rounding out the characters (and they surely are “characters”) is Father Chenille, played by Mathew Root; Paul, portrayed by Allexis Connery; and Sally, played by AliyaWeaver.
As revealed towards the end of the first play, Paul and Sister Mary Catherine are siblings raised in an orphanage when their parents, who turn out to be Father Chenille and Mother Superior, are thought to have died in a car accident. Each of them, thinking the other has died, take religious vows.
The plot revolves around the sisters finding out that the orphanage where Paul and his sister (the Sister) is about to be shut down due to lack of funds. The nuns decide to put on a play to raise money. The “play within a play” is a common dramatic technique found in many plays.
I won’t divulge any more because I don’t want to spoil the fun for the audience seeing the plot unfold.
Once again, Michelle Root directs. She’s familiar to Stage West audiences, both on stage and behind the scenes. Among the plays she has acted in are the “Four Old Broads,” series and “The Big Five-Oh.” She has directed numerous plays, including “Leading Ladies” and “Death by Chocolate. Michelle has even written “Candy Cane Chaos,” a play that was performed last year
The stage manager is one of the unsung heroes. It’s their job to make sure the props and costumes are in order; help coordinate the technical details, such as lighting and sound; and assist the director in a myriad of ways.
Cassidy Stevenson took on the job at the behest of “Gutz” DeBarge, the assistant director, having never done it before. Her strength is acting and she’s recently been in three productions: “Candy Cane Chaos,” “Almost Maine,” and “School of Rock,” after a twenty year hiatus from the theatre.
One of Cassidy’s challenges as stage manner was that they had only four weeks to put everything together−the shortest window for rehearsal in the history of Stage West. The fact that they had seasoned actors and a veteran director helped a lot.
Her favorite aspect was “exploring the prop department to find props for the show.” Although she may consider working as stage manager again, Cassidy’s real love is acting. She plans to audition for at least one of the upcoming plays.
For a period play like “Drinking Habits 2”, which takes place in the 1950s, it’s important that the costumes look authentic. For Jen Scalf, the customer, her job was made easier because they had the nuns’ and priests’ garbs from the previous show. She put together simple A-line dresses for Sally, the reporter, and 1950s-style maternity clothes for Kate.
Jen’s biggest project was constructing the pregnancy bump for Kate, which took some ingenuity and imagination. “You can’t use pillows because they have a tendency to shift around,” she remarked
In a previous play she had used a bicycle helmet underneath her clothes for a pregnant character she had portrayed. It gave the perfect shape. However, that wasn’t possible here because Kate is supposedly nine months pregnant with twins.
“I got expanding foam from a home improvement store and used a bicycle helmet as a mold. I covered the helmet with Saran wrap and painter’s tape. I sprayed it on the helmet to get the shape, sanded it down, then covered it with a foam clay to make it smooth like skin. The whole process, including drying time took three or four days.”
With costuming, “I like taking the dream that the director has and making the vision and illusion come to life, so the audience can be immersed in the show.”
As much fun as costuming is, Jen’s heart is in acting. She fell in love with theatre in tenth grade when she acted in “Grease, the Musical.” She enjoys period plays because “it’s nice traveling back into that era” and wants to try out for “White Christmas” in the 2025/2026 season.
Since I focused on the female actors in the play in my last article, I’ll reveal a bit about the male actors, this time.
George, played by Keith Surplus, is one of my favorite characters and one that I can relate to–not because he’s “dumb as a rock” but because he’s good-hearted and tries so hard to be competent, frequently falling flat on his face (figuratively and literally).
Keith took drama in school and acted in a few musicals, but it was in his late teens that a director in community theatre “broke me out of my shell, giving me more confidence and then I was able to shine in bigger roles.”
That was almost twenty-three years ago and he’s been acting steadily ever since.
Keith states that he likes George because of how innocent he is and how he always has the right intentions.
He would like to act in an Agatha Christie play because he enjoys her books and would like to do a serious murder mystery. Other roles on his bucket list are Willy Wonka or Bert in “Mary Poppins.” On the other end of the spectrum, Keith would like to play Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” because of Von Trapp’s character and the dialogue.
Father Chenille, played by Mathew Root, is almost the exact opposite of George. He’s self-confident, almost to the point of being cocky. However, he has little self-awareness, when it comes to his inadequacies. Father Chenille thinks he’s an amateur magician, but his magic tricks fail miserably. Yet, like George, he’s good-hearted.
Mathew finds that the most satisfying aspect of acting is “the ability to entertain an audience and take them away from their everyday life for a little while. It is as close to playing make-believe as you can get as an adult.”
Mathew has directed a wide variety of plays−serious dramas, such as “Proof” and “The Glass Menagerie” and comedies, such as “The Miss Magnolia Senior Citizen Beauty Pageant.” “The most rewarding aspect of theatre, in general, is watching a blank canvas turn into a masterpiece,” he remarks
For those of us who attended Catholic school in the 1950s and 1960s, this play will bring back memories. “Drinking Habits 2” will tickle your funny bone. If the cast has trouble keeping a straight face during rehearsals, you know it has to be hilarious.
The “girls” arrive at Stage West on Friday, April 4th for eight appearances: April 4th, 5th, and 11th at 7:30 pm; and April 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th at 2:00 pm.
For tickets call the box office at 352- 683-5113 or go online to www.stagewestflorida.com.
