After three years away due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Temple Drama Club is back to tread the boards on the Temple Town Hall stage.

The community theater group, which has put on an annual spring show since 1970, is back in its usual format, including the now-traditional opening skit, “The Temple Chronicle,” a piece written by club members that takes a playful poke at community and global news. This year’s intrepid reporters, including Ken Dahl, played by Matt Cabana, and Jane Shantee, played by Nancy Moore, have some good-humored perspective on Lyndeborough’s attempts to launch a spy balloon over Temple – a nod to the national drama over a Chinese spy balloon – and updates from the Worldwide Thinking Foundation, perhaps better known by its acronym, WTF.

The opening skit is followed by a production of a professionally written play. This year, the club has selected “The Trouble with Being Tucker Dowt,” by Pat Cook. The roughly 70-minute comedy has a colorful cast of characters, including the irascible Tucker Dowt and his family, who are on the verge of losing their home. When Tucker announces his imminent murder, it’s anyone’s guess if the threat is real, or it’s just a ploy to buy more time from the greedy banker eager to foreclose.

“We’ve got a greedy banker, a supposed murder and a missing body,” said Steve Cullinan, club president.

The one-act comedy is the kind of material the club is known for performing.

“We’re shaking off the rust, but we’ve got a cast of about 20 people, and we’re excited to be getting back to the stage,” Cullinan said.

The Temple Drama Club has two performances scheduled, one on May 19 and the other on May 20, both at 8 p.m. at Temple Town Hall. There is a suggested donation of $5. The funds raised by the club are donated to local organizations. While the club decides where to donate the funds following the performance, past recipients have included organizations such as the Mansfield Public Library and the Temple Fire Department Auxiliary.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.

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