Following the opening night of the Timberly Troupers' musical about undertakers, Dorothy (Jennifer Burchell) and her slightly daft husband, Charlie (Tom Desjarlais), host a gathering of actors and friends. The chic opening night party is in another part of town, but into Dorothy's living room comes a guest list that includes Nathan (Gus Hauser) (a recently divorced high school teacher who is also a very bad ventriloquist), Wayne (Rhys Wolff) (better at loving than acting), Jennifer (Leigh Rodgers) (who has a sure shot at Hollywood stardom), Ernie (Ken E. Brown) (one of the Troupers' actors filled with ham and spite), Irene (Jenny Robinson) (his out of patience wife), Mona (Katya Carter) (who was in love with Wayne but has since moved on to someone else) and Paul (Tom Hogan) (a well-known drama critic and friend of Dorothy's who has just broken his rule of never reviewing community theater). When Paul has a heart attack he drops his not-yet-published review before being taken to the hospital. The actors read it and confront the harsh reality of a pan. Dorothy's sweetness and patience rise above Ernie's bitter tirade, and the others trade barbs and insults as they try to control their emotions. The party becomes the setting where the dreams, loves, failures and successes of this group are explored with bittersweet humor and the relationship between risk and need is touchingly depicted.
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