Lingerie elicits laughs in Mountain Playhouse’s ‘Nana’s Naughty Knickers’ – Tribune

Girls just want to have fun in “Nana’s Naughty Knickers,â€� which opens July 21 at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown.

The whimsical comedy by Katherine DiSavino, which runs through Aug. 2, features 83-year-old Sylvia Charles operating an illegal custom-lingerie business out of her rent-controlled apartment.

When Sylvia’s law-student granddaughter Bridget shows up to spend the summer, it’s only a matter of minutes before she and Sylvia’s friend, Vera Walters, figure out Nana’s secret.

“It’s going to be one laugh after another,â€� says Teresa Marafino, Mountain Playhouse producer. “It’s one of those shows that the name of it describes it exactly. The grandmother has this happy-go-lucky life.â€�

Mary Ehlinger is the lead, with Sarah Sawyer as Bridget and Barbara Russell as Vera.

James Powers brings more humor as the UPS man with suspicious deliveries, while Nick Stokes plays police officer Tom O’Grady, who has a crush on Bridget. Sean Patrick Hopkins is Gil, the landlord, who tries to figure out a way to evict Sylvia.

“It’s a lot like a two-hour ‘Golden Girls’ episode,â€� Marafino says. “How do you hide the lingerie and keep the secrets? The craziness that goes on when they have to hide the lingerie makes you laugh.â€�

Ehlringer has been a regular at Mountain Playhouse over the past 14 years. She is a composer with published choral works, and she serves as the resident musical director for The Fireside Theatre and a founding member of Play-by-Play Theatre, both in Wisconsin.

Russell may be best remembered for her 35 years working in a comedy duo with fellow thespian Don Brockett. Over the past several decades, she has performed in many roles at Mountain Playhouse, City Theatre, Theatre at Hartwood, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Musical Theatre and Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre. A former elementary teacher, she was a Wolf Trap teaching artist for Gateway for the Arts.

Sawyer is in her fifth season with Mountain Playhouse. She is a singer, owns a private voice studio in New York City and teaches voice, acting and musical theater at a Connecticut school. She has participated in seven shows with Musicals Tonight!, Inc., an off-Broadway production company in New York City.

Other actors known to Mountain Playhouse audiences include Ashley Puckett Gonzales in the role of Heather Van Pree and Lisa Riegel as Clair.

Laughter is the main reason for the show, Marafino says. “It is about coming to the show and laughing and watching these comedians,â€� she says. “The grandmother says, ‘Let’s enjoy life. Make it work for you.’ That is the message.â€�

Marafino says it has already appealed to fans of comedy.

“The presale for tickets is the best of the season so far,� she says. “People are looking for entertainment. They want to laugh. This is comedy underlined three times.�

Audience members at the July 22 show are invited to a party with the cast immediately after the 7 p.m. performance in the Tuscany Room at Green Gables Restaurant, Jennerstown.

Debbie Black is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.

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