By Bill Robinson
Senior News Writer
BEREA — The late Dr. Clifford Kerby, former mayor of Berea, was a longtime supporter and often an actor in community theater.
One of his favorite plays, in which he played one of the two lead roles for the old Berea Community Theater back in 1977, was “The Sunshine Boys,” said his wife Diane.
“Cliff loved anything by Neil Simon,” she said, “but ‘The Sunshine Boys’ was his favorite.”
Diane Kerby will direct a revival of “The Sunshine Boys” for the Berea Arena Theater this weekend and next, performances that will be dedicated to her husband’s memory.
The production had been planned long before Dr. Kerby’s Jan. 11 death at age 78.
While he had not planned to be part of the play, he had been giving his wife advice on how to direct it, she said.
“After his death, we thought about canceling the production,” Diane Kerby said.
However, as she went through his personal effects and memorabilia, included photos and reviews of his role in the 1977 production, his wife said she realized that he would have wanted the show to go on. Staging it would be “a fitting tribute to his life and love of the theater,” she said.
The play is about two retired Vaudeville actors who had not worked together or spoken to each other for 11 years. One of the actor’s nephews persuades them to perform their most famous skit, “The Doctor Will See You Now,” for a television network show about the golden age of Vaudeville.
In addition to its humor, the play has a poignant conclusion in which the old actors “sort of reconcile,” Diane said.
In a movie version of “The Sunshine Boys,” the lead roles were played by George Burns and Walter Mathau.
In the Arena Theater’s production, former Berea Community School drama teacher and Arena founder Eddie Kennedy will play the role that Kerby had in 1977. Boone Tavern manager Gary McCormick, who has a long history of acting in Lexington theater troupes, will play the other lead, which was played in 1977 by John Coy.
Wendy Barnett will play the nurse, and John Stauffer will play the nephew.
Rehearsing the play has been a bitter-sweet experience, Diane Kerby said.
“Things will happen during rehearsal that will make us all think of Cliff,” she said. “Sometimes they make us laugh, and other times they make us cry.”
“The Sunshine Boys” will be staged Thursday through Sunday this weekend and next at the theater on Big Hill Road (KY 21) east of Berea. Curtain times are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets may be reserved by calling 986-9039. Arena Theater productions often are sold out, so early reservations are recommended.
