'Jerry Finnegan’s Sister,' a comedy about childhood relationships, opens at Bush Theatre
Summer repertory theater at Central Michigan University opened “Jerry Finnegan’s Sister,” a comedy about a childhood friendship turning to romance. The show was presented to an audience of around 175.
The comedy follows the characters Beth and Brian, and tells the story of their complicated relationship. The same actors play Beth and Brian from the time they are 6-years-old and 7, to their early 20s.
Written by Jack Neary, Beth, who is Brian’s best friend Jerry’s little sister, befriends Brian at a young age, and the two develop a friendship. Brian quickly develops feelings for Beth, but denies them for years.
As neighbors, each time Brian goes to talk to Beth, he cannot seem to develop a conversation with her, other than questioning and teasing her about previous boyfriends she has had. This proves to be problematic as they get older, and his feelings grow stronger for her.
The show was directed by Tim Connors, dramatic arts department professor at CMU, and a longtime director for summer repertory theater, his first year directing being 1990.
“It is like all opening nights,” Connors said. “You don’t know what to expect (and) you don’t know how it’s going to go…I thought it went nicely. It’s a fun show to do, Damon and Caylinare were fabulous to work with.”
Connors said he was happy with such a “very responsive, very receptive” audience.
Damon Hunter, 24, of Grayling and a broadcast and cinematicarts and theater major played the character Brian. Hunter has been a part of the summer repertory program two other times.
“I love this audience,” Hunter said. “As soon as it started off…and they all responded back to me, I got really excited, so right off the get go I was like ‘I am going to love these people.’ I feel like (the connection) was there.”
Caylin Waller, 21, of Clarkson and a musical theater major played the character Beth, and is the only company member acting in all three shows of the summer productions.
“I’ve never been in anything like this before,” Waller said. “Being in all three productions, its such an honor, but its also a lot of hard work.”
Waller said she was “pleasantly surprised” with the audience’s reactions to the show.
“Damon and I were nervous about (the audience) because he’s so conversational with the crowd,” Waller said. “It was really nice to see that they got into it and enjoyed it as much as they did.”
“Jerry Finnegan’s Sister,” can be seen at 2 p.m. on June 28 at Bush Theatre, at 8 p.m. on July 11 at the Beaver Island Community Center, and at 7:30 p.m. on July 18 at the Howmet Playhouse in Whitehall.
Ticket run from $7 to $12 and can be purchased at the Bush Theatre box office, or at the box offices for touring locations.
