Dedham's Parish Players present "Guys and Dolls"

Intergenerational collaboration has always been a key part of the Parish Players, the church-based amateur theatre troupe that is performing its fifteenth production, “Guys and Dolls,” this weekend.

For Virginia Hickey-Ferentinos, that mixing of generations is appealing – and something that she and her young son are living examples of.

“We’re often pushing the kids to go on and play on the soccer team – kid-only activities. This is intergenerational – I like that,” said Hickey-Ferentinos, who is a producer and plays Lt. Brannigan in the musical. Theo Ferentinos, a 7-year-old who is in the second grade at the Avery School, plays Jimmy the Greek.

“He is Greek. Kind of typecast,” his mom remarked. (Theo took a deep breath before spelling his last name.)

As a rehearsal was about to begin last Monday evening, Hickey-Ferentinos helped her son get neat and tidy in a black suit he wore to his sister’s wedding in Greece last summer. “We’re getting one more wear out of it,” she said.

She said kids work hard in Parish Players productions, and they see older cast members doing the same: “They have a great feeling of accomplishment when we do it.”

The group began in First Church and Parish’s religious education program, as middle school students performed “Sadako and the Thousand Cranes” in the spring of 1995. Out of that grew the Parish Players, which usually stages a musical each spring.

Recent productions have included “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “Cinderella.” This spring’s show, directed by Diane Winchester, is all about gambling, romance, redemption and a dash of luck.

Stars include Ben Grier as Nathan Detroit, Julia Chipkin as Sergeant Sarah Brown, James Parr as Sky Masterson, and Julia Ray as Miss Adelaide.

As Monday’s run-through began, the stage quickly filled with cast members of all ages for the first number, “I’ve Got the Horse Right Here.”

Chipkin stood on a soapbox, making a plea to the ruffians on behalf of her soul-saving mission. “Hear me, gamblers, with your cards and your dice and your horses. Stop to think before it’s too late,” she said, giving the address of her organization as “49 West St.”

Hickey-Ferentinos’ character appeared on stage asking for Detroit.

“I mean the Nathan Detroit who’s running a floating crap game around here and getting away with it because he’s moving it every night,” she said.

The dress rehearsal revealed kinks that are common in the week before a play opens. A scene change about 20 minutes in needed more work, and when Parr (playing the sky-high gambler Masterson) asked out Sarah Brown in exchange for bringing her mission 12 sinners, he looked offstage when she asked where they were going for dinner. Someone yelled the name, and he repeated it. “The Havana Café, in Cuba!” he said confidently.

Sarah Molano Sotomayor, 11, a fifth-grader at the Riverdale School, said it can get a little frustrating when the younger cast members make mistakes and they have to do scenes over and over.

“‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’ was a little bit easier than this show,” she said.

It’s the third Parish Players production for another Riverdale fifth-grader, 10-year-old Georgia Krikorian.

“This one, younger kids probably won’t get the concept too well,” Krikorian said, adding that doing choreography with them is difficult. “This time, there’s a lot of singing and dancing and emotion. A lot of energy.”

Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.