HALLOWELL — Two houses, a tree and a stump are emerging on the stage of a Hallowell City Hall Auditorium in preparation for the Gaslight Theater first play of the year, “Morning’s at Seven” to be performed March 21-22 and March 27-29.

The set for the two-act play was designed by Hallowell artist Christopher Cart, who is also creating the graphics for the show. He has been assisted in construction by Brad Howard, Farmingdale, Richard Bostwick, Hallowell and Marc Loiselle of Readfield. The audience will see the backyards and porches of the Swanson and Bolton families. A large tree will be a featured fixture of the play which was written by Paul Osborn in 1939 and last revived on Broadway in 1980.

The comedy is about the four Gibbs sisters, who sort-of live on top of each other. There is Cora Swanson who lives with husband Theodore Swanson and her unmarried sister, Aaronetta. Opposite them is Ida Bolton with husband, Carl and their son, Homer. The fourth sister, the oldest, Esther, lives with husband, David about a block away from the enclave.

Life is pretty steady and superficially calm until Homer is forced to bring his girlfriend, Myrtle Brown to visit his parents. Homer has been going with Myrtle for 12 years, but Ida has brought things to a head when she saw a movie about an “old” bachelor. As one reviewer said, “Part of the delicious fun is guessing what really will happen and what won’t.”

The play is unusual in having roles for actors of a certain age, who are not often cast in most plays. An extremely talented and experienced troupe of actors, many well-known to local audiences, will be performing the roles in “Morning’s.” Frank Omar of Hallowell is Thor, Deb Howard of Farmingdale, who also designed the costumes, is Cora. Elizabeth McKenney of Winthrop is Aaronetta, Kathleen Brainerd, West Gardiner, is Ida and Mike Rowe of Waldoboro is Carl. Henry Quintal of Augusta is Homer. He is matched with Julie Barrett of West Gardiner as Myrtle. Beth Rowe of Waldoboro is Esther and Walter Guild of Farmingdale is David.

Bruce Hertz of Wayne is the director of the play with Carol Homer of Cornville as producer. The rest of the crew is Linda Duarte, Lewiston, stage manager and props, Andrew Vick, Augusta, lighting and Bob Gilbert, Farmingdale, sound.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. with the matinee on Sunday, March 23 at 2 p.m. Reservations may be made at 207-626-3698 or www.gaslighttheater.org. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for senior citizens and students.