Carla D. Gipson was looking for a play with plenty of roles for actors of a certain age.

What she didn’t plan on was being one of those actors.

Gipson will direct and appear in the comedy “Steal Away,” which opens Friday at Hopewell Theatre for a two-weekend run

“I didn’t want to,” Gipson said of pulling double duty. “I really tried everything that I could not to, but this is the way that things roll out for you.”

The first performer dropped out because she had a conflict. A second was not able to get her weekends off. The third person cast fell and injured her hip.

“It was just one thing after another, so I ended up having to play this character, Red, because we just ran out of people,” she said.

She is joined in the cast by Ramona S. Austin, Lois E. Thornton, Joy L. Smith, Dezaryé Inez Powell and Monica Beasley-Martin.

Gipson originally picked the play because she thought it would be a fun show to do around the holidays. Scheduling conflicts at Hopewell pushed the show until early 2025, and its January opening was postponed when one of the cast members had pneumonia.

Written by Ramona King, “Steal Away” is set during the Depression and focuses on a group of “upstanding church ladies” who try to support the young women in the congregation of their black church by awarding college scholarships.

“These African American, mature, elderly, church-going women find themselves in this predicament where the good that they’re trying to do for their church and their young people falters and they wind up in what would be kind of like a criminal situation,” Gipson said.

When a white bank manager denies them a loan because he believes “colored girls” don’t need an education, one of their would-be beneficiaries suggests robbing the bank.

“She turns the tides on them — ‘This is how we’re going to do it. You’re not going to be baking no pies anymore for it. We’re just gonna go take what’s ours,'” Gipson said. “A lot of the ideas that this young woman had stem from history — the turn of the century, after slavery, the promises of Jim Crow and the Constitution and all of those things that were supposed to be good and helpful for all people at that time that just didn’t work. She’s been out in the world now and has learned a lot of stuff, and she comes back with her ideas of how we’re going to rectify the situation and get what it is that we want.”

Even though the play is set nearly a century ago, many of the ideas will resonate with contemporary audiences.

“They’re going to recognize it and understand it, but so much still rings true today,” she said. “Even when it’s presented in a way that may seem kind of comedic, there are those very serious moments where those things are pointed out that you just have to reflect on it.”

Most of the cast may be of a certain age, but they weren’t alive during the Great Depression. However, Gipson was dedicated to recreating the 1930s with the production.

“I’m kind of a stickler on period stuff,” she said. “I really get into research, and I really get into the idea that we have to be true to the integrity of the time. So I research on that period — What were people wearing? What were they doing? What were they not doing? No we can’t use plastic wrap, because they didn’t have plastic. We have to use foil.

“I tried to find furniture from that period of time, or earlier than that period of time, that would work in the scene. You can go back, but you can’t go to the future in what you’re doing … We’re not taking this piece and trying to bring it up to date. We’re working to tell the story from the perspective of them being in that period of time.

“I think that doing that also has kind of a psychological effect on the actors or actresses. They have to put themselves in a position to go back and understand, this is how it was back then, you know, this is how it was during that period of time. So you’ve got to act accordingly. You have to research and you have to take the time to make it work as closely as possible.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Steal Away”

WHEN: :7:30 Friday and Saturday through March 1 and 2 p.m. March 2

WHERE: Hopewell Theatre, 702 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens and are available online at hopewelltheatre.org.

Submitted photo
The comedy “Steal Away” opens Friday at Hopewell Theatre. The cast includes, from left, Lois E. Thornton, Ramona S. Austin, Dezarye Inez Powell, Carla D. Gipson and Joy L. Smith.