DANVILLE - Class reunions - mixtures of anticipation and dread. People judge one another compared to high school dreams and ambitions and "most likely to ..." polls. Appearances come under the closest scrutiny since 10, maybe 20, years before.

Audiences will have the chance to witness such a reunion when Red Mask Players presents "Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" at the Kathryn Randolph Theater, 601 N. Vermilion, the next three weekends.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Jan. 20-21 and 27-28, and at 2 p.m. Sunday and Jan. 22. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for full-time students and $12 for those 60 and older. Call 442-5858 for information.

The play takes place in two time periods, 1955 and 1975, so audiences see the characters as both teenagers and adults. Several in the cast play both ages, while other characters have been double cast - one actor plays the teenager and another plays the adult.

A group of middle-age women, friends since high school, reunites in a small-town dime store in west Texas in the show. The last time they saw one another, the movie "Giant" was being filmed nearby. Their get-together commemorates the death of James Dean, one of the movie's stars, in a car crash exactly 20 years before the reunion.

One of the women at the dime store, Mona, had a bit part in "Giant" as a teen. She gave birth to a son she claims Dean fathered.

Played as a teenager by Annie Roach and as an adult by Suzy Smalley, Mona has kept secrets for two decades.

"What she started back then has grown into a massive problem," Smalley said. "Twenty years later, it's amplified. She believes her own story, and it's getting crazier.

"She won't allow her son to grow up. She's afraid for him to leave. This will resonate with some in the audience."

Roach, who plays the teen version of the prim dreamer Mona, said, "When someone is an only child, this kind of thing happens. I saw it with my own husband and his family when we moved away for a while."

Lisa Richter, who plays the adult Sissy, sees many issues people in their 20s, 30s and beyond will relate to.

"Although the characters are strong women," she said, "you can't call this a 'chick flick.' The reunion is a universal thing. Whether you've been successful or not, finding your place in the world matters to everyone."

Richter feels connected to Jeredith Wallace, cast as Sissy's younger self, offstage as well as on.

"I showed Jeredith photos of myself at her age," Richter said. "I did my first adult show for Red Mask when I was in high school, too."

Wallace, a sophomore at Schlarman High School, has three Red Mask Children's Theater shows to her credit.

"They call me the baby," she said. "I feel as if I have six mothers or big sisters watching out for me in the cast."

The two actors colored their hair a similar shade of auburn and wear costumes that accentuate their physical similarities to make their onstage relationship more believable.

The sole male in the cast, Nathan Ingold, makes his Red Mask debut in the production. He appeared in a few high school plays as a student at First Baptist and then served two tours of duty in Germany with the Illinois National Guard.

Ingold returned to Danville in March. A friend told him about the Red Mask auditions, and his interest in theater rekindled.

"I relate to my character," Ingold said. "He's very misunderstood. I was, too, when I was his age.

"He's spent his life trying to emulate James Dean. That hasn't brought him any happiness. He realizes that by the end of the show."

Director Leslie Boedicker hints at the play's impact - and mystery.

"When people haven't seen one another for many years, the old issues come up. People remember the good and the bad about one another, the friendships and the deception," Boedicker said.

"It's a time for forgiveness and, as in this show, a few secrets to be revealed."