The curtain was supposed to go up on the Sun City Community Players’ “Don’t Talk to the Actors” almost a year ago. The cast had rehearsed, the crew had prepped; final tweaks of light and sound were just around the corner. But the curtain never opened.

Two weeks before opening night, director Joyce Wood tested positive for COVID. To keep everyone safe, the difficult decision was made to postpone the play until the following season – a decision that has not come without its challenges.

Actors who had spent the better part of two months living and breathing their on-stage roles now had to retain all those lines they had memorized – or start over eight months later. Previously scheduled events, trips and appointments had to be rescheduled or canceled. Two of the original cast members had to be replaced due to upcoming surgeries. And the director had to wonder if they could all find their way back to where they had been.

She needn’t have worried. As she put it, “I was anxious all summer. But after the first read-through this fall, I knew we would have a great show!”

The play is a fast-paced comedy, with crazy manipulations and outrageously bad behavior. Wood cautions that the language is a bit salty at times, but adds that there is something for everyone – romantics, cynics, dreamers and realists. What she likes best about the play is that it’s about flawed characters with lofty ambitions, but good hearts.

Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 21, 22, 28 and 29 and 2 p.m. Oct. 23 and 30, at the Mountain View Recreation Center. Tickets can be purchased atSunCityPlayersCommunityTheater.org and will also be available for in-person purchasing at the Fairway Center, 10 a.m.-noon, Oct. 17-20 and 24-27.