He may be crotchety and a bit of a curmudgeon, but grumpy old Norman has a place in our hearts.

"It may be that he reminds us of people we know — fathers, grandfathers," says Marietta actress Linde Stern. "He is much softer than he wants us to know."

Stern should know. She will be portraying Ethel to Steven Hassinger's Norman in the Susquehanna Stage Co.'s production of Ernest Thompson's play, "On Golden Pond," which runs Thursday through Sept. 27.

It just so happens that she is married to a Norman — her real-life husband is Norman Courney, and the couple have been married for 37 years.

"He's not really like Norman in 'On Golden Pond,'" she says, but the experience of being married a long time and having parents who are still married after 62 years gives her some insight to the way a lengthy marriage works.

Some have described it as a dance, where each partner plays his or her role. They play off each other, filling the voids within each personality. They may bicker and quarrel. They may annoy and irritate each other. But they do it in their own way, and somehow it works.

"Deep down, the glue that holds Ethel and Norman together is that they truly, deeply love each other," says Stern.

At 60, Stern portrays a woman who is 69. Her husband, Norman, is older, and although Hassinger, at 51, is a good deal younger than his character, he manages to play a man who faces his retirement not so gracefully.

"Norman is dealing with issues of age, declining health, loss of productivity. He may have had some dreams in life, but they didn't quite materialize. He didn't quite become the success he wanted to be," says Hassinger.

Hassinger, too, has real-life experience in a long-term marriage. He and his wife Susan have been married for 30 years, and have two teenagers.

That gives him some insight into the relationship between Norman and his adult daughter, Chelsea. They have become estranged over the years, mainly because Norman has been so critical and judgmental of his daughter, even though he deep down loves her dearly and is proud of her.

"He won't show it, and as a result she is very hurt by him," says Hassinger. "But part of the reason he is so critical is that he is unhappy with his own failures."

Norman and Ethel are complex characters who became famous when Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn portrayed them in the 1981 movie that was filmed on Squam Lake, New Hampshire. Both Hassinger and Stern have tried to not be influenced by the film.

"How do you live up to Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda? You don't," says Stern. "You have to be your own version of Ethel or Norman or Chelsea."

As she points out, the film was shot in beautiful New England locations. This play is being done on the much smaller stage of the Susquehanna Theatre Co. on West Market Street, Marietta. While the sets are homespun and nostalgic, the confines make it all the more vital to get inside the characters.

Director Jim Johnson agrees. A professor of theater at Penn State Harrisburg and a former theater teacher at Donegal High School, Johnson started Susquehanna Theatre Co. a little more than a year and a half ago. He saw it as a opportunity to initiate community theater in Marietta. Many of his actors know him from his days at Donegal.

Hassinger went to high school at Donegal with Johnson. Stern had children involved in theater. Both have been involved in theater for some 30 to 40 years. Stern has portrayed Madame Josephine in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" and Christmas Past in Theater of the Seventh Sister's "A Christmas Carol."

Hassinger owns Video Vision, a video transfer business in Mount Joy, and is also in the Army Reserves, where he is in a band doing military honors for funerals. He has done local theater at the Fulton and Lebanon Community theaters. Among his favorite roles are Jeff in "Brigadoon" and Billy in "Carousel."

Both are excited to be involved in Marietta's newest community theater. Stern can actually walk to the production, since she lives very close to the historic Marietta Community House, where the theater company is located.

The first show for Susquehanna Stage Co. was the classic American musical "The Music Man." Now Johnson and company want to tackle something more intimate and thought-provoking. The cast also includes Randy Riggleman as Charlie Martin, Nancy Bramlet as Chelsea, Christopher Green as Billy Ray and Bill Perkins as Bill Ray.

"When you read the script, you realize how beautifully written "On Golden Pond" is. I am feeling so in tune with Ethel. She has a strength of character, a joy for living. She just sparkles and she is a peacemaker when it comes to dealing with Norman," says Stern.

"In today's world when marriage seems disposable, you see a couple who are committed, despite their flaws. And that's very refreshing," she adds.

"On Golden Pond"

Thurs.-Sat., Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.

Sun., Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. $10

The Susquehanna Stage Co.

Marietta Community House

264 W. Market St., Marietta

426-1277
www.susquehannastageco.com