Staff photo / Andy Gray
Kasey Sheridan, left, and Connie Cassidy play rival divas who are assigned the same hotel suite in the farce “Suite Surrender,” which opens Friday at Trumbull New Theatre.

Trumbull New Theatre has a “suite” finale planned for the finale of its 2024-25 season.

Michael McKeever’s farce opens Friday for a three-weekend run at the Niles community theatre.

Director Terri Gilbert said the show was recommended to her from a friend at church.

“She and her friend had seen it on vacation and came back and said, ‘Terri we saw a show you just need to do at TNT,” Gilbert said. “It’s funny as heck. It’s my type of show. It’s just light and fun. Come out, enjoy an hour and a half and forget your cares.”

The play is set in 1942 at the Palm Beach Royale Hotel, which is hosting a “Night of a Thousand Stars” to raise money for the war effort.

“They have invited Claudia McFadden and Athena Sinclair to perform, and these divas hate each other,” Gilbert said. So, as a farce would have it, both ladies wind up in the same presidential suite of the Palm Beach Royale Hotel. So trying to keep them from killing each other and even seeing each other is the crux of the evening.”

The cast features Aaron Holden, Marc Bye, Wayne Morlock, Kathy Purdum, Jill Sakonyi, Connie Cassidy, Brett Bunker, Kasey Sheridan and Niki Baringer.

In addition to the human actors, the cast also features Charlotte Gysegem playing Mr. Boodles, the lapdog of one of the divas.

“I found out that Judge Gysegem and his wife, Jody, are parents to Charlotte, and she is just a dream,” Gilbert said. “She’s so cute. You know how they say you never want to act with dogs and kids? She’s going to prove it to be a true statement. She is so cute, and she’s a little scene stealer. She hasn’t given us a lick of trouble. She loves people. She loves the limelight.

“Her mom said the other night they mentioned TNT, and she just lights up and goes to the door. She can’t wait to be there with all the people, so it’s fun to have her as part of the show.”

The show can be done without a live canine and Gilbert said she had a stuffed animal she probably would have used if she hadn’t learned of Charlotte, but having an actual dog in the cast “adds a certain flair.”

Along with the many doors that just about every farce requires for the rapid-fire entrances, exits and near-misses, the set for “Suite Surrender” also includes a grand piano, which required going deeper and wider with the set to accommodate that centerpiece.

“It’s always a challenge at TNT, but they always seem to come off looking like they should,” Gilbert said. “I think the set is working wonderfully. It was designed by Tom Himar and the scenic design was by Katherine Huff. You know how it takes a village to raise a child? It also takes a village to get a show on at any place, but especially at TNT.

“We pull in all our resources. I’m very fortunate to have people that will work with me. I have some men from church that are construction people that are happy to come out — at least I hope they’re happy to come out — and get the crux of the set up within a day or two and make sure everything is sturdy. Then we have the others that will come in and paint or design stencils and create palm trees, and we’ll paint the scene outside the French doors and cover the bar stools. It takes a village of volunteers to make TNT happen, and this show is a perfect example of that, as everything has come together extremely well.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Suite Surrender”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday through May 17 and 3 p.m. May 11 and 18

WHERE: Trumbull New Theatre, 5883 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $17 for adults and $15 for students and are available online at trumbullnewtheatre.tix.com. Reservations can be made by phone by calling the TNT box office at 330-652-1103 between 7 and 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday.