SEQUIM — Scheduled to run in March but postponed by the North Olympic Peninsula’s “Snowmageddon,” Olympic Theatre Arts’ production of “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” is now cast and in rehearsal.
“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” will run June 7-16; performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Pay-What-You-Will night is June 13.
Tickets are $18 for the general public, $16 for OTA members and $10 for students with school identification card.
Tickets are available at the OTA box office from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, or online at www.OlympicTheatreArts.org.
In this comedy-drama by Richard Alfieri, Lily, an “aging but formidable retiree,” hires Michael Minetti, an acerbic dance instructor, to give her dance lessons in her condo in St. Petersburg Beach, Fla. Antagonism between a gay man and the wife of a Southern Baptist minister gives way to profound compatibility as they swing dance, tango, foxtrot and cha cha while sharing barbs and intimacies along with the dance steps, play production staff said.
Director Greg Scherer, recently seen in OTA’s musical comedy production of “First Date,” said he is pleased with his two-person cast.
“I have two outstanding actors for this show,” Scherer said. “But they are as different as night and day and chalk and cheese, and that’s part of the beauty of this play. These two strong characters come together – her world as a senior, his dance world. The clash is comedic, but the caring underneath is what really makes the show.”
Cast as Lily, Cheryl DiPietro calls the production “a real sweet story.”
“She’s very leery of a stranger coming into her home, but as time goes on they get to be friends. I think people in Sequim are going to be able to relate to a lot of the themes in this play.”
Michael Sickles, who is involved with both the Port Angeles Community Players and OTA and was last seen at OTA as Happy in “Death of a Salesman,” plays Minetti.
“It’s a drama about creating friendship,” Sickles said. “And you get to watch that blossom. Then the comedy is just all around, because they’re both funny, genuine people. They’re very different, and that’s what so beautiful. But they’re also similar — they’re both caring, they’re both sassy, they both have a strong will about them.”
For more information, call 360-683-7326.
