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They say that laughter is the best medicine, and those who attended TC’s Drama Production of Don’t Kick the Turkeys got a healthy dose. The comedy under the direction of Dawn Davis, had the audience rolling with laughter. This year the drama class performed two plays- Cakes Galore and Don’t Kick the Turkeys.

It’s only Pastor Clark’s (Geoffrey Retemeyer) third day as pastor of Mission Baptist Church when his secretary, Joy (Kristen Tillotsen), starts laying down the laws of the office, while the janitor (Jesse Gray) is “fixing” everything in sight with duct tape. The most prestigious member of the congregation (Hiliary Sharp) is on the warpath, and an eccentric choir director (Ashlee Burnam) presents some far out ideas for Sunday morning’s special.

Calamity and humor escalates when a daycare moves into the church building after the pipes in their own building burst. Can God work in such a situation? A message is brought unexpectedly by way of a homeless man, and the members of the church realize there are more important things than keeping a squeaky clean image. Alongside the laughs, Don’t Kick the Turkeys offered striking similarities to almost every church.

The second performance of the night, Cakes Galore, featured Helen and Fern (Megan Brown and Morgan Andre) as two elderly women devoted to serving the poor every Tuesday and Thursday. They attend the small Mission Baptist church. Their “competition”, Southside Baptist has all the money they need to serve the poor extravagant dinners that consist of things like steak, meanwhile Mission Baptist is struggling to serve soup and sandwiches.

With depleting funds, the Mission church will soon be forced to suspend the ministry. Helen and Fern hold a fundraiser consisting of a 50’s theme with music and a cakewalk, which is headed for disaster when undermined by the Southside Baptist candlelight thanksgiving dinner. Eventually the two churches join forces with great success.

“I laughed through the whole thing; it was really professionally done” says Junior Jordan Gustafson. Each play had a unique message; Don’t Kick the Turkeys dealt with the issue of taking the road less traveled. The pastor had to take the lead for the other church members to follow him. Also, the play confronted the issue of homelessness. Don’t Kick the Turkeys taught the audience that we need to help those who are less fortunate than us. Cakes Galore also dealt with homelessness and taught us that we need to help the poor even if they are dishonest because we are called by God to help others.

The cast loved being part of the comedy troupe. “Playing Helen was really fun and I loved hanging out back stage with my fellow cast members,” said Megan Brown. Morgan also enjoyed her part saying, “Portraying Fern was a really exciting and different experience.”

Lead actor Geoffrey Retemeyer was appreciative of the director’s hard work. “Mrs. Davis is an awesome director and I am really happy I had the opportunity to work with her”.

Drama is a very special class filled with very special students. Each student had the opportunity to get something out of drama and to give great and memorable performances.

After receiving their dose of laughter; it’s safe to say that TC is a healthy group.