NEW MARKET -- Schultz Theatre's upcoming show, "The Dew Point," by Neena Beber, has everything, according to promotional material from the theater: "Love and marriage, sex and friendship, authenticity and blackmail ... and the lies we tell in order to stay honest."

Really, though, the drama and first performance of Schultz's 2012 season is about real life.

At the heart of the two-act play is Britney Mongold's character Mimi, a woman attempting to begin a life with the man she plans to marry -- Kai, played by Chris Whitney -- but, at the same time, fearful of the conditions that come with being engaged.

"She has trouble using the word 'fiance,'" Mongold said. "She doesn't like the word 'fiance.'" She thinks it's old-fashioned, which, in turn, makes her feel old for using the word.

"Kai is the one to whom I am engaged," Mimi says, with discomfort, in a scene with Greta, played by Kelly Ann Conner.

"She's worried about a lot of things," Mongold said.

Mimi's former boyfriend, Jack, played by Alan Wiecking, is even more fearful of relationships, unable to remain faithful to any woman, much less his current girlfriend Greta. He's cheating on her with Mimi's friend Phyllis, played by Gina Currence.

"Mimi was my lover 20 years ago," Wiecking said.

Of Greta he said, "She's my lover 20 minutes ago."

"She labels herself as an actress-slash-dancer," Conner said. "She's very comfortable with her sexuality and she dates Jack, who is much older than she is."

At the start of the play, Jack gives a hideous red chair to Mimi and Kai as an engagement present. The chair might seem like only a prop around which discussion and argument ensue, but soon it becomes a doppelganger for Jack. Even without him physically in the room, his presence is still there, in the form of a piece of furniture each character cannot help but notice.

"It has funny bits in it, but it's more a play about, more than anything else, it's about Mimi's growth," Wiecking said.

"It has a lot of layers," said Mongold, of Fulks Run. "It's like an onion, or a cake."

Mongold, a recreational director for the Back Home on the Farm Corn Maze, donated scenes of the valley she painted at home as artwork for "The Dew Point."

"If they want to buy it, proceeds will go to the theater," she said. Donations to the theater have more impact now, since Schultz has applied for nonprofit status.

"We're on the cusp," said theater treasurer Joanne Thompson. "We're like right there, which will help immensely with what donations people want to make."

The volunteer-run theater has until now been a for-profit business, Thompson said.

She, along with owner and director Michael Gwin, plans to apply for grants, but the theater also hopes to receive donations of cash, props, costumes, advertisements and, most importantly, time.

Even someone donating an hour to the theater can help answer the box office phone, return voice mail or sell tickets, she said. The theater also needs nearby residents who can volunteer in the stage crew, on publicity, and on costume or set design.

"Everyone has something that they can do if they really enjoy having the community theater here," Thompson said.

"We try to do a show a month, so there's always an opportunity to get involved," said Wiecking, of Fort Valley.

He performed recently in the theater's "A Dickens of a Carol."

"It was a mashup of 'A Christmas Carol,'" he said. "It was full of bad puns. I was Bob Cratchit, and I got to kick Tiny Tim off the stage, physically."

"I've only acted in high school," said Conner, a Harrisonburg resident double majoring in theater and English at James Madison University, with a minor in secondary education. "Greta's crazy. ... It's more mature than I've ever played, it's for mature audiences.

Kai, on the other hand, "Well, he's probably more the perfect male," said Whitney, a Stephens City resident.

"I think he's sort of the voice of reason in the play," Whitney said. "Everything he says it's what you should probably do."