Panhandle Players returns with delightful Departed
By Mel Kelly and David Adlerstein
With the exception of Ben Turpin, who died suddenly at the breakfast table, first on Friday and Saturday night, and then again on Sunday afternoon, the Panhandle Players are alive.
They have returned, local theatre has resumed, ensemble acting that elicits in person laughter is now back among the living.
What I saw last weekend at Apalachicola’s Chapman Theatre, staging area for the comedy
Dearly Departed, by playwrights David Bottrell and Jessie Jones, was a sight for sore eyes.
First the show was supposed to come off a year ago, but COVID-19 scratched that, and then director Steve Allen worked to have it in October, but the stage lights stayed dimmed yet again.