Kat Biery as Lucille and Sandia Sommers as Ida in “The Cemetery Club,” the next production of the Mid-Ohio Valley Players opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Players Theater in Marietta. (Photo provided)

A comedy about three widows and how they grieve for their dead husbands will open Friday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre in Marietta.

“The Cemetery Club” by Ivan Menchell is about three friends – Ida, Lucille and Doris – in New York who meet once a month to visit their husbands’ graves and share memories.

As they go through life after loss, their bond is tested when Ida begins a new romance.

The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday with performances scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2 and May 3 and at 3 p.m. May 4. The theater is located at 229 Putnam St.

Tickets are $13 and are available at midohiovalleyplayers.com or at the box office beginning two hours before each performance.

The cast of “The Cemetery Club,” seated from left, Kat Biery as Lucille, Sandia Sommers as Ida and Jane Mancini as Doris. Standing, Dave Richardson as Sam and Jena Lane Blair as Mildred. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre in Marietta. (Photo provided)

Rod Poling, who is co-director with Leslie McGoron, is excited for people to see the humor in the show and the ways people differently cope with grief.

“The three women in the show all grieve in a different way,” Poling said.

“It’s interesting to see three friends and how some are stuck in the past and some have moved on.”

Jane Mancini plays the priggish Doris. For Doris the most important thing is family and friends, Mancini said.

“She sits at the grave of her husband and talks with him once a month and doesn’t understand why the others don’t want to do the same.”

The cast of “The Cemetery Club,” seated from left, Kat Biery as Lucille, Sandia Sommers as Ida and Jane Mancini as Doris. Standing, Dave Richardson as Sam and Jena Lane Blair as Mildred. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre in Marietta. (Photo provided)

Playing Lucille is Kat Biery, a woman scorned.

“Lucille has a bit of a ‘beef’ with her deceased husband so she’s working through that right now,” Biery said. “She feels the need to date other men just in case he may be able to see her so she can rub that in his face. There are no limits with Lucille.”

The show is more than a comedy, Biery said.

“There is an underlying storyline with Lucille and her cheating husband, Ida who feels that life must go on, and Doris who represents those that feel ‘Till death do you part,'” she said. “But there is still lots of humor and lots of gags.”

Other members of the cast and crew are Sandia Sommers as Ida, Dave Richardson as Sam and Jena Lane Blair as Mildred. The assistant director is Kay Doak.

From left, Dave Richardson as Sam and Jena Lane Blair as Mildred with Jane Mancini as Doris in “The Cemetery Club.” (Photo provided)

From left, Dave Richardson as Sam, Sandia Sommers as Ida and Kat Biery as Lucille from “The Cemetery Club” opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theater in Marietta. (Photo provided)

Dave Richardson as Sam and Sandia Sommers as Ida in the Mid-Ohio Valley Players production of “The Cemetery Club” opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Players Theatre. (Photo provided)

Sandia Sommers as Ida and Jane Mancini as Doris, co-stars in “The Cemetery Club” opening on Friday at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre in Marietta. (Photo provided)