Get In The 'Spirit': Greenwood Little Theatre Working On Next Play

“I hope they are not ghastly,” Pam Powers laughed at a reading for the Greenwood Little Theatre’s first winter production, “Blithe Spirit.”

Powers, a Greenwood Realtor and director for this production of Noël Coward’s comedic play, referred to her cast of seven, whom she’s taken to referring to as her “ghostly friends.”

The show illustrates the struggles of English novelist Charles Condomine, a skeptic of seances and the afterlife, as he contends with the ghost of his late wife after a visiting medium conjures her up.

“The show could be best described as a comedic farce,” Powers said — but that comedy overlays themes of marriage, grief and loss throughout the play.

“I think it’s spot-on with a lot of marriages,” said Elecia Elmore, who plays the medium. “It’s kind of argumentative, but they’re in love.”

Bob Draper and Kimberly Gnemi play Dr. and Mrs. Bradman, friends invited to the seance and a “somewhat adversarial couple,” Gnemi said. 

They are the couple opposite Condomine and his wives — past and present — and Gnemi said her character may function as a foil to Ruth, Condomine’s living wife. 

“Mrs. Bradman is quite snooty and seems to want attention, while Ruth is accommodating and quite sincere,” she said. 

Coward’s plays frequently deal with marriage. 

“There is something interesting about the second marriage of a widower,” Powers said. “The widower didn’t lose the love for his first wife, but he also loved his second. He tells her, ‘I love the memory of you.’” 

On how Condomine’s continued love for both women speaks to a broader theme on human existence, Powers teared up. 

“All of us, I’m sure, have lost somebody ... and even though they don’t appear in person as a ghost, they can still be nearby with memories ... so it’s like ... they’re always part of you,” she explained. 

The comedic aspects of the play might be meant to balance that awareness of grief and loss, the cast agreed. 

In fact, it is the fun of the play that originally brought cast members to the auditions. 

Draper said he “lucked upon” the 2014 video recording of “Blithe Spirit” with Angela Lansbury on YouTube and knew he had to be in a production of it. 

“If anybody sees that, you can’t keep them out of the theater,” he said. 

For Draper, the GLT cast is right up there with Lansbury’s Tony-winning talent. 

“Blithe Spirit” will also be the first play in the Davis Elementary School Auditorium that fully incorporates the partnership the Greenwood Little Theatre has with the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District and Mississippi Valley State University. 

Students from Valley will play in a combo in the orchestra pit for this show, Powers said, “and it should all really come together.” 

The show runs Oct. 27-30, aptly timed for Halloween with its ghostly characters. 

The play shows that “there can be humor even in tragedy,” Powers said. “You can still laugh about funny things that your friends or relatives have done when they were actually here, and that shows in this play.” 

- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.