Marilyn Dunne lights up a room with her endless positivity. Only she rubs Abby Binder the wrong way. Lots of people do, but Marilyn and Abby are roommates.
These aren’t college kids but a geriatric odd couple and the lead characters in “Ripcord,” a comedy that runs Friday through June 15 at Little Theatre of Virginia Beach.
“It’s a pretty intriguing show,” said Sherry Forbes, directing her first production in years.
The story centers on a battle of wills between the pair who reside in a senior living facility. They make a bet that escalates beyond a series of pranks, and, spoilers aside, there’s a happy ending.
“One of the things I really appreciate is there aren’t a lot of roles in the area for mature women,” Forbes said. “I felt very fortunate that so many talented women showed up to audition for the show, yet that was one of the most heartbreaking things for me. I could only pick two.”
The natural chemistry between Kelly Claers (Marilyn) and Nancy Bloom (Abby) made it an easy choice. Both actresses worked in “Blithe Spirit,” also at the Little Theatre in 2009. Despite the relatively small local theater community, they hadn’t seen each other since the show closed.
Yet, during their audition, it was as if no time had passed.
“I felt that energy from them, and they read so well together and played off each other,” Forbes said. “The fact that they picked up right where they left off was incredible to me.”
Claers started exploring local theater options shortly after a military move relocated her husband from San Diego to Norfolk in 1993. Some of her prior performances were in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” “Steel Magnolias” and “The Little Foxes.”
She stepped away after “Blithe Spirit,” swept up in raising two children and a career in real estate. When she decided to return, roles weren’t as plentiful as community theater is often geared toward the young.
Claers said it feels great to be back on stage. She especially likes playing Marilyn because she identifies well with her personality.
“She’s a glass-half-full type of person, which is how I like to look at life,” she said. “She has a line that says, ‘You can’t give up on people. Once you do, it’s over.’ I’ve said before, once you get older, you can choose to curl up and die or you can meet new people, make new friends.
Bloom, whose day job is public engagement manager for the city of Virginia Beach, appreciates Abby’s sarcastic wit and depth of character.
“Ripcord” is Bloom’s 13th show for LTVB, where she also directed productions. The Indiana native inherited her mother’s love for theater and brought Mom along for moral support the first time she auditioned locally.
“She got cast, but I didn’t!” Bloom said. Yet the experience connected her to a contact who pointed her toward Pembroke Theater, a small venue inside Pembroke Mall.
“I did a show there and got the bug,” Bloom said.
“Ripcord” resonates with her because it’s escapist theater, a 2-hour production that adds “some levity in our lives,” she said. “It wraps up nicely. You leave feeling you were entertained.”
Laughs aside, the play also blends in dramatic elements that include familial estrangement and the challenges of aging. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire is a Pulitzer Prize recipient for “Rabbit Hole,” which premiered on Broadway in 2006.
For ticket information, visit Little Theatre of Virginia Beach.
