Community Theatre to debut ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ run this weekend

ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond Community Theatre’s performances of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” will begin this week.

The play is adapted from the 1967 film of the same name. It follows the story of an interracial couple who have fallen in love and navigate the challenges of introducing themselves to their families.

“It’s about all these different reactions, but what it all comes down to is it’s about people caring about each other,” explained Theatre Director Merrie Dawkins.

Dawkins said the film affected her “profoundly” in her youth. She said she “jumped” on this play when she saw it in a theatre catalogue, but COVID has delayed the theater performing it until now. The film was adapted into a stageplay about six years ago.

“It’s always been one of my favorite movies,” Dawkins said. “Even though it was originally written and done in 1967, it’s still very relevant today.”

The cast and crew have been working on the play for the past six weeks. Dawkins said the actors have invested thousands of hours learning lines and becoming their characters. The set has been completed since December.

“Every role in this play is so important,” Dawkins said. “Without each one of [the actors], the play wouldn’t be what it is.”

Research is done to identify accurate furniture design, costumes and hair, as well as the speech and music of the time period. Dawkins said this is essential to bringing the performance to life.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” will be performed Feb. 17-20 and Feb. 24-26. All showtimes are at 7:30 p.m., except for the 20th, which will take place at 3 p.m.

Since the Richmond Community Theatre is a city-owned building, masks are mandated for the cast, crew and audience members. Performers will be wearing see-through masks on state. The theatre is cleaned after every performance.

For more information, call (910) 997-3765 or visit http://www.richmondcommunitytheatre.org/.