Dearly Departed

This production, when well done, can be quite a hysterical play. This entire family "mourning" over a man that no one really liked with a fat woman who is constantly eating throughout the play and high strung car ride is bound to tickle a funny bone or two. I especially LOVE the car ride scene with the mom yelling at her kids to sit down or she'll do something horrific to them and then the dad blows his top at the end of the scene. BRILLIANT! There is so much to play with and it would be easy to cut and not too hard to do well.
If you don't cast someone for the obese role who is overweight, then you need to make a "fat suit". Some really poor departments don't have the means or skill to make them so they'll need to rent one but there MUST be a fat girl in the scene for it to work and be funny. The set cannot be elaborate because the locale changes so much from the car, to the church and etc. I can imagine a covered pylon acting as the casket at one point. Not very much lighting is needed since it is a very realistic and comedic piece. I would highly recommend this play for a A or AA school.