'The boys next door'

In preparation for roles, Village Playhouse actors visited Hope Center and Delicious Delights Bakery to gain insight into daily lives of mentally challenged residents

When theater veteran Sheri Grace Wenger decided to produce Tom Griffin's "The Boys Next Door," a play about four mentally challenged men in a group home, she wanted the director, cast and crew to catch a glimpse of how similar local residents cope in their daily lives.

At the invitation of Karolyn Elliott, executive director of the Charleston County Disabilities Board, the group toured the Hope Center and the Delicious Delights Bakery, which supplies bread for many local restaurants.

During the tour, the visitors were serenaded by Walter, an elderly gentleman with a walker, who sang "Holy, Holy, Holy" to the visitors, and received thunderous applause.

Also at the Hope Center, they saw about 100 employees seated at tables stuffing emergency supplies into plastic containers in preparation for the hurricane season.

"The most profound experience was having lunch with the employees at the bakery, which is managed by Frances Roy (in a wheelchair) and her daughter, Debbie Roy, who runs the place like a well-oiled machine," recalls Wenger.

"The workers I sat with at lunch talked about their families, their jobs, their boyfriends, and played tricks on each other and laughed when they did something silly."

Although "The Boys Next Door" will be performed at Mount Pleasant's Village Playhouse, it will be presented by Midtown/Sheri Grace Productions, headed by Wenger, and directed by her son, Ryan Ahlert, a theater graduate of the College of Charleston.

After serving as artistic director of the Midtown Players, a group that performed in a black box theater at Marion Square 1998-2000, Wenger then held the same position with the Footlight Players 2000-04.

"It was Ryan's idea to do this play, which he discovered in college," says Wenger. "Although it is billed as a comedy/drama, (playwright) Griffin is careful not to mock people with mental disabilities."

Ahlert, who has acted in numerous local productions, including "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Footlight Players, says, "In choosing to direct this play, I saw from an actor's perspective how challenging and daring it could be, as these people find challenges and obstacles in every little thing that we, as mentally capable persons, take for granted."

The director adds, "The subject can easily be a trap for actors if not treated delicately, and could result in a shallow and irresponsible performance."

Ahlert recommends the show for those 10 and older because of the adult language used.

A success off-Broadway in 1987, "The Boys Next Door" was made into a film starring Nathan Lane and Michael Jeter in 1996.

Principals in the play are: Robbie Thomas as sweet-natured Norman, who works in a doughnut shop and has a crush on Sheila, a resident in one of the homes for women; Ross Magoulas as Lucien, a senior citizen with the mind of a small child in danger of losing his state benefits; Jamie Smithson as Barry, a functional schizophrenic, who fancies himself a golf pro; and Fred Hutter as Arnold, a paranoid delusional who works in a movie theater and dreams of traveling to Russia.

Overseeing the group by paying a visit to the community home each day is Jack (Scott Haithcock), a social worker whose personal life suffers because of the constant demands of the residents.

After visiting the two sites for the mentally challenged, director Ahlert indicates his initial perspective has altered somewhat.

"It wouldn't be desirable to suffer these disabilities," he says. "But I do have to envy the many ways in which these people are free to just laugh or cry or play or eat or love or just to exist. I want this performance to be a tribute to and celebration of people with mental disabilities: a chance to recognize how everybody is different, and finally to appreciate these differences rather than censor them."

As Wenger says, "Sometimes being a little different means being a lot more wonderful."

Reach Dottie Ashley at 937-5704 or dashley@postandcourier.com.