David Nehls grew up in western Pennsylvania, where as a paperboy he always found a welcoming cup of hot chocolate at the nearby trailer park.

At a friend's recommendation, and after a slew of wacky headlines, he created his first musical, The Great American Trailer Park Musical and set the show in Stark, Fla.

He drew upon tales of an electric chair at the nearby prison that sucked up all the power. "They had to use the electric chair in the early-morning hours or the person couldn't be killed," Nehls says. "There was a lady in her trailer having a margarita party and they couldn't use the chair, or so I was told."

He also enjoyed the legend of a crusader who tried forcing out strip clubs in the area by revoking their liquor licenses.

"What it did was let 16-year-olds in," Nehls says.

The musical has become a modest success in the past three years, with a six-month run on Broadway and a dozen regional productions. It comes to the New Denver Civic Theatre this weekend thanks to a chance meeting and a series of coincidences.

In 2004, Nehls met Colorado performer Alex Ryer at the inaugural New York Musical Theatre Festival. He didn't remember the event until last fall, when he was cast alongside Ryer for the two-person play Souvenir at the Arvada Center. Ryer reminded him of their earlier meeting and suggested that she and her partner, Gary Schnell, produce The Great American Trailer Park Musical in Denver.

Nehls, meanwhile, had bought a house and moved to Denver.

There was more kismet: Ryer and Schnell's production company was originally incorporated to buy and sell used mobile homes. It was a perfect synchronicity for a musical comedy about the denizens of a north Florida trailer park.

Nehls wrote the music for the show, with Betsey Kelso tackling the book. The two had become friends while performing in a European tour of The Rocky Horror Show.

"I was playing Riff Raff, and we would just sit in the back of the bus and be stupid," he says.

During a 2001 workshop, the two tried to treat their subject with more gravity.

"When the hurricane hit, it was a very serious moment," Nehls says. "It was all about the plight of the people in the trailer park, and it made for a very boring evening."

Instead, they ended up with a raucous comedy full of oddball characters.

"One question that has been asked of us a lot is, 'How does it feel making fun of all these people?' " Nehls says. "Whoa, whoa, we're not making fun of these people. We are very protective of them. You're satirizing a slice of American life, but by the same token, you have to make the audience love these people."

The line between comedy and cruelty can be a thin one.

"We had mud wrestling at one point," Nehls says, "and that was such a bad idea."

Park rangers

Some of Denver's finest performers tell what makes their characters, well, characters.

• Alex Ryer on her character, Jeannie Garstecki: "She has not left her mobile home for 20 years. She's agoraphobic. She had a day where her son was kidnapped and she had a really bad perm and the combination was just too much for her."

• Craig Lundquist plays Norbert Garstecki, Jeannie's husband: "I finally get fed up with her not leaving the house and decide I'm gonna go out and have a beer and hit it off with a stripper and start up an affair."

• Brooke Wilson on Pippi, a stripper: "Pippi's on the run from her ex-boyfriend, or her ish-boyfriend, and gets employment at the Litter Box Show Palace. Norbert comes in and she realizes that she's falling in love with him."

• Patric Case on Duke, Pippi's ex: "I'm addicted to huffing cooking spray. I'm fed up with it, so I'm just going to start killing people. I'm the villain, which is very exciting."

• Amy Board on Pickles: "Her real name is Donna, but everyone calls her Pickles because she's hysterically pregnant. She's 17, her husband is dubbed a 'fancy guy' from Jacksonville. Evidently, he's very theatrical. She's not the brightest crayon in the box. And she knows it because everyone's told her."

• Robin Thompson on Betty: "I own the trailer park. I'm like the earth mother who takes care of everybody, knows who's doing what by whom and how often."

• Sharon Kay White on Linoleum, or Lin: "My husband's on death row for a case of road rage, and it leaves me frustrated in a number of ways, so I have to seek outlets, mostly through comic zingers."

Lisa Bornstein is the theater critic. bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5101

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