Review: THE VIEWING ROOM at Attleboro Community Theatre

The Attleboro Community Theatre(ACT) kicked off its 67th season with the hysterical “The Viewing Room”, written by Stoughton native Mark Edward Smith. But to say the ACT group simply put this production on would be an understatement: They LIVED it. Once theatre-goers walked into the theatre you were actually entering a funeral home. They had the funeral guest book(which I signed paying homage to the dead person I didn’t know), the “Forever in our Hearts” memorial cards for Chester Dumbrosky, even the Funeral Director Jayne Hollerback was there to greet us and tell us where to go, passing out her business cards(my wife actually thought we were in the wrong place initially). It was just a great effect to start the performance and made us feel we were in for a treat.

The “The Viewing Room” was set in a funeral parlor, complete with the coffin, lectern and six chairs, just like so many wakes I’ve been to over the years. Family patriarch Chester Dumbrosky, played with comedic genius by Steven Taschereau, in his second performance with ACT, has decided to make amends with his life and his family once and for all, but this chance of atonement comes a little late….on the day of his wake. 

It starts when just his son Matthew, played wonderfully by local artist Chris Sabatino, whose incredible artwork makes up the covers of the program and the sign outside the theatre, comes into the viewing room before the rest of the family. Matthew, like many of us who arrive at a wake early and are faced with our own mortality as we look down on the body of someone we once knew or loved, looked like he just wanted to get the whole thing over with. 

But his father had other ideas. “Tell your mother to get a refund on this casket; show some balls,” Chester announced from the coffin. “I’m in a giant beer can. It’s not even real metal, it’s aluminum.”

While Matthew tries to come to grips with his father rising from the coffin, Chester tells him that he has come back for one day to make amends with his family before he moves on, something the people above suggested in order to get through the pearly gates. But like in life, Chester still had some complaining to do. “They say embalming enhances the appearance but all it does is give me gas,” said Chester. Matthew counters that if his father needs proof that there’s a heaven, he should just to look at the Red Sox finally winning the World Series. “What more proof do you need?” said Matthew. “Can’t you just be a good corpse?”

Once the family arrives at the wake, Chester is pushed back into his coffin by his son and as they gather around the coffin, Matthew spends some time trying to keep the words about his father’s life as positive as possible to keep his father silent. But when Chester’s youngest son Steven, played by Michael Barresi, decides to read his lengthy eulogy, Chester starts making moaning noises from the casket and before long, their father sits up in the coffin to tell those gathered that it is time for a “family discussion”.

Anne Faiella plays an awesome mother Florence, Chester’s batty wife, who has moved on rather quickly from Chester, buying a new Mercedes, selling their home and buying a condo since his time in the hospital. Dawn Ferrisi plays a remarkable Debby, the youngest daughter of the family, who dabbles in the occult and is blamed at times for her father rising from the dead. Linda Hernandez plays oldest daughter Patti, one of the many kids who have held their hatred for their father in check all these years. Rounding out the incredible cast includes Lisa Forsgard as funeral director Jayne and Paul Oliver as the oldest and protocol son Chet Jr.

Chester notices only his direct family is at the wake. “Was I such a monster that my grandkids weren’t allowed?” asked Chester who took the silence as his answer. He goes around to each person asking what their take on his life was and how he treated them, asking for complete honesty. “You are what your life accomplishments say you are,” Chester said.

“We came here to grieve, not to critique,” said son Steven.

One-by-one, Chester's children and wife unleash their long-hidden disdain for things their father and husband did to them, from him refusing to pay for Patti’s wedding to never complimenting the kids on the good things they did, yelling at them constantly and never offering a hug.

“It was easier for me to go to work then to focus on you kids,” said Chester., clearly still missing the point. “You want hugs, go to a Hippy commune.” 

Matthew focused his anger on the banishment of older brother Chet Jr., who none of the family had seen for decades and why his father did what he did to Chet Jr. Mother Jayne told her husband that they had such a wonderful time dancing throughout their lives but pleaded to know why they had stopped.

“When each child came along, the music got dimmer,” Chester admitted sadly. 

Chet Jr. appears near the end of the play, brought to the wake by the funeral director, where he can finally reunite with his family and talk to his father about what happened to cause their decades-long feud.

“No man is ready for his first child,” Chester told Chet Jr. “It gets easier.”

“A son needs to feel wanted,” countered Chet Jr. “The last thing he needs is for you to turn your back on him.”

Chet Jr. said despite everything that happened with his father, he turned out OK with a wife and son of his own. 

“Dad, why did we wait a lifetime to speak?’ Chet Jr. noted, probably the most important line in the play and one that I clung to long after the play was over. 

For many, as funny as this play was, it was also introspective and probably hit home for many in the audience. I know many people who don’t talk to their parents or siblings and after having a sibling die young, you realize that it is not worth keeping grudges and eliminating people, especially relatives, from your life. If there’s one thing that “The Viewing Room” teaches you, it’s to not wait until it’s too late to re-connect with loved ones. DO IT NOW. Go talk to someone you haven’t talked to in years. Figure out your past issues and make amends before it’s too late. There’s nothing worse than realizing you never got to talk to that person before they died and now it’s too late. Do not spend a lifetime waiting to speak as Chester did because you won’t have the chance at your wake to make it right. 

“The Viewing Room” was a completely enjoyable two-hour play with one intermission, good for young and old alike. There are great lessons here for the children as well but I hope the adults get something out of it that makes them realize to love those around them as best as you can. Our time here is too damn short to wait too long.

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