Politicians can be somewhat hard to handle, according to Monica Cangero. She prefers dealing with them on stage, not in real life.

“I’ve been watching the Democratic Convention, and I think that’s a little bit more serious than doing this play,” Cangero said last week. She plays the ex-wife of a recently deceased senator in David C. Hyer’s play, “Lying in State,” opening Friday night at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham and running until Oct. 4. “I think our play is hilarious and very timely. That’s a lot more fun than dealing with the foibles of real political characters. They think they’re above it all.”

Zany world of farce

Joining Cangero in the cast is Jack Fallon, who plays Herb, the campaign manager of the dead senator. Like Cangero, Fallon has been watching some television coverage of the political conventions, looking for some clues as to how he might play his character.

“My character’s like a political boss. So I’m more or less the straight man in the play,” said Fallon. “I have been watching some TV, but what you see there is all the fluff. What the play does is expose all the warts and the sores in the political system. My character is a manipulator with some obvious flaws, but I think he’s likable. I hope he is. He’s the kind of guy that’s constantly being hoisted on his own petard.”

“Lying in State” is set in a funeral parlor after the death of a state senator who was in the middle of a race for re-election.

“It’s a political comedy. So it’s very apropos for the current election season,” said director Cindy Bates. “It’s a funny play. It doesn’t take a serious look at politics, and it doesn’t take on any of the heavy political issues of our day. It just pokes fun at politics.”

The central focus of the play is who is going to replace the dead senator?

“That’s how the conversation starts, and just about everybody thinks they’re the one that’s going to replace him,” said Bates. “It really gets into the zany world of farce. Who’s actually in the casket? Can they run the dead candidate? After all, his popularity is going up.”

Cangero’s character hasn’t been much of a part of her ex-husband’s life since their split four years earlier, but one of the stipulations of their divorce settlement was that in case he died, she had to bury him.

“I get dragged right back into all the political shenanigans that I walked away from earlier,” said Cangero. “My character has drastically changed, and it’s been four years since I’ve seen all these people that I’m running into in the funeral parlor. My character looks different from what the other people remember because she’s lost a lot of weight and really turned her life around. I tried to make her very likable, and I think she is.”

Cangero was most recently in “Around the World in 80 Days” at Curtain Call, another lighthearted comedy, but two years ago was in the Curtain Call production of “Looking for Normal,” a hard drama about a murder-suicide.

“I enjoy doing both comedies and dramas, and I don’t really think I prefer one over the other,” she said. “I approach them the same way. I try to find the truth in the character. There’s a person in there, regardless of what kind of play it is, and that’s what I’m trying to find.”

For Fallon, who was also in the Curtain Call production of “Around the World in 80 Days,” comedies allow him to do a bit more with his character.

“Dramas are fairly clean-cut,” he said. “I think there can be more creativity and more discovery in a comedy. As far as I’m concerned, that makes comedies a bit more enjoyable.”

Sharing the spotlight

Also in the cast are Eileen Meehan as Buttons, the dead senator’s fiancée, Chris Kowalski as the governor’s son, Dave Meyersburg as the governor, Steve Leifer as the brother of the dead senator, and Linda Mizeur as Margo, a woman whose dead husband is also in the funeral parlor.

“It’s a great ensemble cast, and we have some new faces in Eileen Meehan and Chris Kowalski,” said Bates.

“The parts are fairly equally divided, so everybody gets a chance to strut their stuff,” said Fallon. “It’s a real mix of characters.”

“It’s a very fast-paced show, and you don’t have to be really into politics to enjoy it,” said Cangero. “Politicians are always getting embroiled in this kind of stuff. So people know the stories. This way, they can laugh and enjoy it.”