Graying bad boys to invade Valley Performing Arts stage

WASILLA — The last play of the season at Valley Performing Arts promises just about everything.

“What I told somebody is I said just expect hand-clapping, foot-stomping bellyaching laughter seasoned with a few tears,” said director and co-writer of “Bad Boys Gone Gray” Rachel Underwood.

There will also be a few fart jokes, courtesy of Stink, a college professor played by VPA veteran Dave Nufer.

“He has a flatulence problem because he’s lactose intolerant,” VPA Executive Director Garry Forrester said.

The play opens tonight, runs through at least May 22 and centers around a group of men who have reached middle age. Fans of Underwood’s previous writing efforts with KerryAnn Byrd and Judy Dossett should know that the men in this play are intimately related to the heroines of “Hot Aging Women” and “Hot Aging Women II: Never Desperate at Any Age.”

These are their husbands, ex-husbands, lovers, relatives and friends. Forrester said that one of the men, James, has been released from prison and the men, who have known each other all their lives, reunite to fix up a cabin to serve as his home.

“They start reliving old memories and reminiscing, and then some negative things start coming out about some circumstances in their youth and how James wound up in prison,” Forrester said. “Sometimes when you get back together with people in your life the results aren’t so rosy.”

Just like the other two installments, “Bad Boys Gone Gray” is a musical. Underwood said the accompaniment comes from a talented jazz quartet from Palmer High School. All the songs are original pieces played on drums, keyboards, saxophone, bass guitar and guitar. For the play, VPA has done up its lobby in classic “man-cave” style with a motorcycle and a dartboard.

Forrester plays Aaron, whose nickname — all the men have nicknames — is Bullitt a la the Steve McQueen movie. Aaron owned a Mustang in high school. Unlike some of

the others, Aaron didn’t stay in his hometown. He’s a world-traveling landscape architect.

“It was important for me to come back and support him,” Forrester said of his character, but “I have not been as involved or a part of these guys’ lives as some of them would like.”

Forrester said that so far tickets have been flying out the door. The series has apparently created a pretty loyal fan base.

“This show was only scheduled to run three weekends, but it looks like we might have to add a weekend,” Forrester said. It’s kind of the way things have been going for VPA this year. “This is our 35th season and we’ve broken all of our previous attendance records.”

He said the VPA has benefited from a bucketful of new actors and a steady stream of new audience members. All season, he said, he’s run into people who were attending a VPA performance for their first time.

“Some people say we’re the best-kept secret and we’re trying to change that,” Forrester said.

Underwood said she could not have anticipated that kind of reaction when she, Byrd and Dossett wrote the play.

“One can only be very pleased. It’s hard to have any expectations because with any theatrical production, it’s live theater (and) one never knows what’s going to happen until they get on stage,” Underwood said. “Can I say we were expecting this? I can’t say that. Can I say that we were excited, thrilled and overjoyed? Absolutely.”

And, she said, she is extremely lucky to have been able to work with the cast of men in this play. The day casting was complete she had Chinese food, she recounted.

“My fortune cookie the day that it was cast said, ‘you have found good company. Enjoy,’” she said. And that fortune has proved, well, prophetic. “These men have been a wonderful joy to work with.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.