There’s something about the Litchfield Opera House that makes it appropriate as a venue for “Anne of Green Gables,” the play that opens for a three-show run this week.

“The theater itself, you know, the Opera House, just lends itself so much to a turn of the century, because that’s when things were being done here for sure, plays and concerts,” said director Val Chellin, who has directed a handful of shows at the Opera House. “So, just loving this venue for this show.”

The play is set for shows at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 12 and 13, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14, at the Opera House. Tickets – $10 for adults and $7 for children – are available by calling 320-221-6679 and at the door.

“Anne of Green Gables” is adapted from the classic novel by L.M. Montgomery and follows a feisty orphan, Anne Shirley, who’s adopted by siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. Adapting to her new life isn’t easy for the energetic, effusive girl, who does not fit the wish of the Cuthberts, who had hoped to adopt a quiet boy who could help out around their farm. But Anne slowly makes her way through various challenges and earns the love and respect not only of the Cuthberts but school friends and other adults.

But the play isn’t the only thing. Falling as it does on Mother’s Day weekend, each showing of “Anne of Green Gables” will be preceded by a tea party, the cost of which is covered by the admission charge.

The smalltown, wholesome appeal of the play, along with the tea party seem the perfect fit for the Opera House, according to Rick Beecroft, who plays Matthew Cuthbert. It’s Beecroft’s first appearance on the stage at Litchfield Opera House, after having acted in several Litchfield Community Theatre productions at Bernie Aaker Auditorium. Following a recent rehearsal, he and other cast members shared how they’ve come to enjoy the century-old Opera House as a venue – quirks and all.

“This is a lot more intimate, in my opinion,” Beecroft said. “And it lends well to a smaller show like this with a smaller cast. Yes, with the props and stage or set, it’s a little more difficult to try to fit it all in, but it makes it … the whole premise of the event is the Mother’s Day weekend and the tea party and bringing families together. That’s what the feel of the Opera House really is.”

Jennifer Thompson, who portrays Marilla Cuthbert, agreed, adding that Chellin has taken some of the Opera House’s shortcomings and turned them into assets.

“I think Val has done a really good job with the blocking and using – you don’t have wings, you know, we’ve got staircases – but using all this space,” Thompson said. “That’s to Val’s credit. She’s really made the most of the space.”

After having directed a handful of shows at the Opera House, Chellin said, she’s figured out some tricks to make its small stage work to each show’s benefit. And, in fact, things have progressed since the first play she directed there, when the stage didn’t have a curtain.

“So I create it, because I know the stage,” Chellin said of the blocking plan for each show. “There’s no backstage. So you have to use the stairs, and they’re only, if you go in that way, you have to come out that way. And there’s only stairs to go downstairs on that side. But you can’t go around that way. So when you know all those quirks of the theater, then you stage it and block it that way.”

The cast and crew of about 20 people began rehearsals the third week of March. Along with learning the Opera House’s quirks, the actors also have been tasked with a bit of time travel, theatrically speaking. Set in the late 1800s in the fictional town of Avonlea in Price Edward Island, Canada, the play offers up challenging dialogue and character portrayals.

“I feel like I’ve never really had too much problem with lines in shows I’ve done before, because for me, I’m just like telling a story,” said Hailey Vines, a Litchfield High School sophomore, who plays the title character. “And usually the characters talk like I would talk, or like, I know the story in my head and I’m just telling it. This was a bit harder, because she talks a lot differently than I talk. I mean, I do talk a lot like her, but she uses a lot of different vocabulary than I do. So it was really hard to like get some of this stuff down. I kind of know sentences but it’s hard to get, like, orders and stuff, but I think I got it.”

Beecroft said he’s experienced a similar challenge in playing quiet bachelor farmer Matthew Cuthbert.

“Actually, this one’s tough for me, because it’s supposed to, the Mathew character, is supposed to be shy or meek,” the outgoing Beecroft said with a laugh. “So it’s taking every lit bit of creative ability to actually go outside of me.”

“I’ve been typcast,” Thompson said, drawing a roar of laughter from her fellow actors. “Battle axe, that’s me.”

“I just needed a very strong character with a. strong voice, and Jennifer fit that perfectly,” Chellin interjected. “She does do really well. It’s a hard character and she does a really good job.”

As the show nears, Chellin and cast said they looked forward to bringing the show to an audience that would be up-close and personal.

“It’s like a black box,” Thompson said of the Opera House. “It’s like a studio theater kind of thing, where, I mean, we’re going to be able to hear the audience breathe. The size of it, what Val was saying about it being the period, it helps, actually, put you in that mindset, because it is small and because it’s more realistic. This is the smallest proscenium arch I’ve ever seen by the way. But because we’re in this, the old woodwork and the old doors and old handles and everything, it puts you in the period, that helps, I think.”