Ashland actress part of ensemble cast on 2nd Stage at the Mansfield Playhouse

MANSFIELD — Jeffrey Hutchinson said he isn’t in “stripping shape” anymore.

Fortunately, then, the role he’s reprising in “Keep on Laughing” doesn’t require him to shed his clothes at the Mansfield Playhouse.

In 2022, also on the Second Stage at the East Third Street community theater, Hutchison played the role of Bobby in “Exit Laughing,” a comedy ostensibly about about three southern ladies — Connie, Leona, and Millie — who steal their deceased friend Mary’s ashes to hold one last card game. 

That role included some nearly naked gyrations now better left to the imagination.

Bobby has bigger problems in “Keep on Laughing,” a sequel that opens Friday night on a two-weekend run with a six-member ensemble cast.

Namely, now married, his wife, Rachel, is about to give birth to twins just as those three aforementioned ladies return from an overseas vacation.

“I had just finished a show and I actually wasn’t going to do this one,” said Hutchinson, who just performed during September in “Moon Over Buffalo” on the Playhouse’s main stage.

“Then the more I thought about it, the more I was like, that was the first show I ever did here, and I kind of wanted to come back and reprise my role. I had a lot of fun memories from that show so I wanted to come back,” he said.

He is joined by an entirely different cast this time, though the show is directed by Heidi Ankrum, who also directed the prequel three years ago.

“‘Exit Laughing’ was one of my favorites that I’ve directed, so I wanted to do this one too. It was just so funny. Both of these shows are centered on the strength and the relationships within the family,” Ankrum said.

“It’s about how they are moving on to new things and how they’re all supporting everybody to go out and live their life like they’re supposed to … following their dreams and doing the things that make them happy,” she said.

“But I really do love the relationships among the three ladies and how they’ve just really supported each other and been through everything together,” Ankrum said.

In “Keep on Laughing,” the three old friends from Alabama have just finished their world tour and have returned home with hysterical stories of their adventures.

But level-headed Connie has returned with a surprise — she met a man in Paris and is now engaged — only he is the same age as Bobby, her now son-in-law.

(Photos from a Monday night dress rehearsal of “Keep on Laughing” on the Second Stage at the Mansfield Playhouse. The comedy opens a two-weekend run on Friday night. The story continues below the photos.)

Connie is played by Ashland resident Mary Kettering, seen most recently on the Second Stage in May in “Squirrel Lake.”

“I like it because it’s a character who’s actually close to my age, but her circumstances are totally different,” Kettering said.

“It’s just interesting to think about life from a different perspective since she’s a single mom and she’s gotten to travel the world and and so it’s kind of fun to imagine getting to do some things like that,” she said.

The humor in “Keep on Laughing” is found in the relationships, especially among the the three longtime friends, according to Kettering.

“There are times when they get on each other’s nerves, but you also know that the three of them have each other’s backs. They’ve been through a lot together all through their lives, so they’ve really been there for each other,” she said.

The audience will find Connie with a comedic foot in two different places — about to become a grandmother … and engaged to marry a much younger man. Can she live in both?

“They should expect to see a mom who’s kind of like in-between two worlds. She has this different life that she never thought was possible in France with meeting this new guy. And she is torn between that and the life at home that she’s been used to in Alabama forever and wanting to do right,” Kettering said.

Zoe Tracy of Lexington returns to the Mansfield Playhouse for the first time since “Wonderland Wives” in November 2024.

Rather than Snow White, Tracy plays the very pregnant Rachel.

“It’s not too difficult (carrying twins on stage),” Tracy said with a laugh. “I’ve been pregnant (in real life) twice before, so just combine them into one.”

The timing of the show matched her life schedule, Tracy said.

“My kids just got done with their sports and I saw this was coming up and I had a perfect gap for time between the next time my kids are at a sporting event, so I was ready to get back up here,” she said.

Tracy likes the independent side of her character.

“I like that she doesn’t take any $%^& from anyone and she just kind of always says what she is feeling,” she said.

“I think this cast is awesome and I’m super excited for everyone to see it,” Tracy said.

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