Clash of Will

The plot, such as it is, of “Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will?)” is summed up by the title. But the comedy, now playing at the Conejo Players Theater, transcends its thin story line, richly portraying a colorful Texas family.

When Daddy Buford (John Sisk) has suffered a debilitating stroke, the members of his family, who seldom speak to one another, are forced to confront the situation. The cast includes his children Sara Lee (Tracee Garrett); Lurlene (Maureen Damian); would-be country singer Evalita (Shari Arnold); good-ol’-boy son Orville (Jason Rasmussen) and his put-upon wife, Marlene (Mary K. Fanto); Evalita’s latest boyfriend, a California hippie musician known as Harmony Rhodes (Sean Blodgett); and honorary matriarch “Mama” Wheelis (Lee Rauchle).

Del Shores’ script is funny and knowing, and director Kelly Green is working with a terrific cast, a strong ensemble able to switch from broad humor to sentiment to pathos, seemingly without blinking. Also notable is Michael Sollazzo’s sturdy, atmospheric stage set, doing double duty in the Players’ concurrent production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

The Texas Shores: Playwright Del Shores started in show business as an actor, appearing most notably as Seth the bartender in the daytime TV drama “The Days of Our Lives.” He has also written scripts for TV movies and series, including “Touched by an Angel,” “Family Ties” and “Maximum Bob.” But he’s best-known for his plays, especially “Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will?”) and--to a lesser extent--”Daughters of the Lone Star State.”

From Zapata, Texas, a small town south of Laredo, Shores moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. “Here I am, a Southern Baptist preacher’s boy, whose first job choice was to move to Hollywood,” he said. He began writing, he says, the day a particularly meaty scene featuring him was cut from the “Days” script. “So I went home and wrote myself the part of Clarence, the stud town mechanic, in ‘Cheatin’.’ I borrowed $4,000 from my parents, we mounted it and it ran eight months.”

During “Cheatin’ ” rehearsals, he says, “My aunt Sissy called me one day and told me that my grandfather had had a stroke, and my mother and my aunt Reta were fighting” over something that turned into a major plot point for his next play, “Daddy’s Dyin’.” It was something of a sequel to “Cheatin’,” still highly fictionalized, but it was close enough to home that, “My mother was just horrified at first, and Aunt Reta didn’t speak to me for years.”

During its first run, in Los Angeles (it opened Feb. 7, 1987), Shores says, he received an unexpected and rewarding response. “I’d thought I had this sort of funny play, but people were leaving the show crying, telling me that ‘This is my family.’ ”

*

Turn Me Loose: Last week’s announcement that ‘50s teen idol Fabian Forte had dropped out of “Grease” at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza “at the last minute for personal reasons” (to quote the press release) was erroneous. Though Forte has appeared on other segments of the tour--alternating with Frankie Avalon and Chubby Checker, among others--he was never signed to play in Thousand Oaks, acknowledged Allan R. Glennon, marketing vice president of the production company. In an interview over the weekend, Glennon attributed the mistake on “a series of internal contractual miscommunications.”

Oscar Arslanian, Forte’s manager, elaborated: Fabian is preparing for his wedding to longtime fiancee Andrea Patrick. “We think the world of [producers] Troika Entertainment . . . and Fabian enjoys working with them.”

BE THERE

“Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will?)” continues through Sept. 26 at the Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark in Thousand Oaks. Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. $5. No reservations. (805) 495-3715.