Opening night for “A Catered Affair” to be pushed to tonight

            According to Amber LaBau, box office coordinator at the Chase Fine Arts Center at Utah State University, refunds were recently given out for the play, “A Catered Affair,” due to an emergency schedule change. Originally slated for Tuesday night at the Caine Lyric Theatre located at 28 West Center St. in Logan, Utah, opening night was postponed to today at 7:30 p.m. because actress Sydnee Fullmer had health problems.

Kenneth Risch, the director of the play, said Fullmer plays the central character in the play.

“It’s a pretty extensive role,” Risch said. “She’s in almost every scene. So in this particular case, the best thing to do for both Sydnee and for the cast and crew was to postpone the opening until she was well enough to do it.”

            Fullmer said she started feeling severe stomach pains and nausea late Friday afternoon. The next morning, she had her appendix removed.

According to Risch, Fullmer will be able to perform on opening night.

“There are certain precautions we have to take to make sure that she is strong enough for opening on Friday night,” Risch said. “And she’s progressing the way she needs to be, so she’ll be fine.”

Risch declined to comment on what the precautions are, and while Fullmer did not mention it, she said she is progressing every day.

“You recover pretty quickly from this type of surgery,” Fullmer said. “I know I won’t be at 100 percent by Friday, but as the theater says, ‘The show must go on.’ So I’m going to push through it and do my best.”

Wyn Moreno, an actor in the play, said he thinks Fullmer will be ready.

“She’s tough,” Moreno said. “She was fantastic before all this happened, and we are just really excited to get going. It was a hard blow, but I think she’ll be ready.”

Moreno said the cast is also ready to perform.

“We’ve been ready for a while,” Moreno said. “At this point, we just want to get it done. It’s been a long process.”

According to Josh Burningham, who works at the box office in the arts center, the times the show will start are today at 7:30 p.m., tomorrow at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Monday at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Risch said the final rehearsal times also changed. Originally, he had planned on the last two taking place on Sunday and Monday. Since the postponement, the rehearsals were pushed back to Wednesday and Thursday.

According to Risch, this change has created a shift in dynamics.

            “When you rehearse a show, there’s a momentum that builds up over the last week in particular when you’re putting all of the lighting, the costumes, everything together,” Risch said. “So this has created a momentary pause in that process, but they’ll get it back.”