by Christa Van Gemert

The lost and found department of the Paradise Bus Company deals with a wide variety of misplaced items, but none so unusual as some of those seen in Pat Cook’s Paradise Lost and Found.

The Kings Players will wrap up their 2019 season with this delightfully funny and touching play, directed by John C. Rabe. Featuring a cast large enough to fill the Temple Theatre’s intimate stage, Paradise Lost and Found includes not only items, from tiaras to tubas, that are waiting to be reunited with their owners, but lost and found family members and friendships as well.

Pat Cook was inspired to begin writing plays after seeing Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Since then, he has written over 130 plays, including Paradise Lost and Found. In it, it’s business as usual for staff members Mavis, Regan, and Coop as they deal with their overbearing manager Krolik and a host of odds and ends left behind on buses. That is, until a nine-year-old girl turns up as a lost item. To add to the confusion, smart-aleck janitor Gillis starts a rumor that business tycoon B.F. Crandall will be making an appearance, in an attempt to put Krolik on his best behavior. Suddenly, the place is bustling with activity in anticipation of the impending arrival. Mysterious Mr. Benjamin shows up and sticks around, claiming to have lost a valise; Regan and her constant bickering with her boyfriend Richard add to the mayhem. Even the owner Mrs. Wallingford, who has avoided Paradise since her husband passed away, pays a visit when she hears that Crandall’s appearance is imminent.

Cast of “Paradise Lost and Found”

Paradise Lost and Found features a cast of eleven, and includes brand new actors, some experienced actors joining the Kings Players for the first time, and some whose faces will be familiar to Temple Theatre regulars. The main character, Mavis, is played by Chariti Messer, who isn’t a stranger to the stage, but will be in front of the curtain for the first time. Chariti provided piano accompaniment for the Kings Players’ 2018 production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. “I’m enjoying getting out of my comfort zone and into the proverbial limelight,” she says. Mavis’s tyrannical boss Krolik is played by returning actor JP Rapozo, who is rejoining the Kings Players after a nearly twenty-year absence. Joining Chariti and JP on stage are first-time thespian Hope Guhl, as well as veteran actors Ashton Mayberry, Joseph Katz, Ron W. Bates, Cyndie Maxwell, Eden Brock, and Kim Spicer. Stephan DesJardins will also be returning to the stage. He says: “I’m so thankful for having the Temple Theatre as a creative outlet…sometimes I wish I had known about the Kings Players sooner, but better late than never.”

Paradise Lost and Found runs November 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, and December 1. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinee performances begin at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at www.kingsplayers.org, or at our box office thirty minutes prior to the performance. No computer? Leave a message at (559) 584-7241 and a volunteer will return your call.

The Kings Players have been bringing quality shows to the Hanford area since 1963 at the Temple Theatre on 514 E. Visalia St., Hanford, California.

If you love local theatre, be sure to check out our new Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, which features mysteries read by local actors. You can check the podcast out on iTunes/Apple Podcasts and Google Play, and also on podbean. Also check out our other theatre articles and reviews in our Arts and Entertainment section.