Audiences will gather March 9-12 at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts for the Community Theatre production of “Dearly Beloved.”

Director Emilie Barr said, “It is a comedy with a little bit of drama, but not a lot. More laughs than tears.”

Set in the small town of Fayro, Texas, the play is about three sisters who have become estranged, but one of them has a daughter who is getting married.

“They all have to come back together and try to make a wedding where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, without any more hitches than it already has,” Barr said.

The three Futrelle sisters are Frankie, the youngest whose daughter is getting married, received some news from the doctor and is having some marital problems; Twink, the middle sister who has been in a relationship for 15 years and really wants to get married and is told that if she and her boyfriend can see wedding bells, they’ll probably be married by Christmas; and then Honey Rae, the oldest sister who has become the most estranged from the rest of her family. Honey Rae is coming back into town and wants to repair the relationship with her family, but “she has a lot of ground to make up so she’s trying to overcome her shortcomings to show that she’s in it for the long haul,” Barr said.

She chose “Dearly Beloved” – a comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten - because she can relate to it a lot.

“I’m the youngest of three sisters, so I can understand the sister dynamic. There’s something about a small town comedy that I think will really resonate with Warsaw. Not being a super huge town, I think we can all kind of relate to everybody knows everybody, everybody knows everything about everybody. It doesn’t take long for word to spread when something happens in town,” Barr said.

She thought it was a really fun show to do and they could perhaps show local residents a new show they haven’t seen before.

“Dearly Beloved” is Barr’s second time as director for the Community Theatre. Five years ago, she directed "Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap.’” While “The Mousetrap” was a mystery and drama, directing “Dearly Beloved” allows Barr to do something very different.

“Your mind has to be in a different place as you’re looking at things because, for this show, you want to make it funny. For the other show, you’re focusing on the serious moments,” Barr said, before admitting that she was a little rusty getting back into the director’s chair after five years. “But (I’m) stretching myself in a new way, which is always good.”

The cast for “Dearly Beloved” are all locals. Barr said they probably had around 40 people audition for the comedy, which was great.

“The numbers have continually grown for us year after year, which is great. It’s very exciting,” she said. “But it also makes it really hard because there are so many talented people in this area, and so it definitely took a while because we cast two shows at the same time.”

The two shows were “Dearly Beloved” and the murder mystery fundraiser coming up in April. Barr said they wanted to incorporate as many people who auditioned as possible in the two shows.

“Yeah, it was hard. For sure,” she stated.

There are 12 cast members in “Dearly Beloved” with five crew members.

The first five scenes are really short and take place the evening before the wedding. Everything else takes place the following day in the play, most of it in the reception hall or outside of the reception hall.

Set in modern day, Barr said people will see iPhones and other items that will keep the show in today’s time.

As for costuming, Barr said, “We had an adventure. One of the big things about the wedding is that it is ‘Gone With the Wind’ themed, so the bride’s sister is wearing a hoop gown, so it’s big and fluffy and pretty and pretty much over the top. But everyone else is pretty much modern day wedding wear.”

Barr said the cast is ready and excited for audiences to see the show.

“We’re in a really good spot. This cast is amazingly talented. They’ve worked really hard to build these characters, memorize their lines and they’re doing great,” she said.

“You will laugh. You will cry. It’s a really good time to come together and enjoy people you know and love in the community putting on a really great show.”

According to the Wagon Wheel website, the cast includes Cindy Nash as Geneva Musgrave; Gerald Cox as Raynerd Chisum; Tara Rusinack as Tina Jo/Gina Jo Futrelle; Kimberly Morgan as Frankie Futrelle Dubberly; Todd Lucas as Dub Dubberly; Theresa Daggett as Twink Futrelle; Julie Kuhn as Nelda Lou Lightfoof; Devin Marcum as Justin Waverly; Zach Netzley as John Curtis Buntner; Tim Davis as Wiley Hicks; Lori Widman as Patsy Price and Hannah Carter as Honey Rae Futrelle.

Crew members are: Jason Dugger, stage manager; Melissa Jordan, production manager and props; Beth Anne Cox, costumes; and Brian Neher, Dan Kuhn and Hillary Nash, backstage crew.

Tickets are general admission and can be purchased through the Wagon Wheel box office or online at wagonwheelcenter.org. Show times are 7 p.m. March 9-11 and 2 p.m. March 12.