When Cheryl O'Connell asked Dave Millet to sing his tribute to Kenny Rogers at a concert to raise money for Mercer County Disabilities Coalition, he quickly agreed.

But Millet thought that Ms. O'Connell, the coalition's co-executive director, should consider bringing in a play he had just seen that addresses issues pertinent to disabled people.

Thus was born "A Night of Country and Comedy," the coalition fund-raiser that will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium of Farrell Area High School.

With Millet supplying the country, the comedy part is the play "United We Stand" by the United We Stand Theater Troupe.

"It's an eye-opening play about how others perceive those in wheelchairs and with disabilities," said Ms. O'Connell. "It tells our side of the story."

The play was written by Rob Kocur of Erie, who had written other plays, but had never devoted so much stage time to the theme of the disabled.

"It's the same in that it's a comedy, but it has more relevance to the disabled community," said Kocur, a two-time Paralympian in table tennis.

The play discusses ignorance, attitude, architectural inaccessibility and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, he said.

It examines the apathy of those who are not disabled, and how some disabled people have broken into factions, with some disabilities thought of as less than others. In the play, there is a "war" between people in wheelchairs and the blind.

Kocur, 39, also threw in a love story in which the woman is hesitant to enter the romance out of fear that it will destroy the friendship she has with her would-be lover.

Heavy issues, for sure, but they are delivered in laughs.

"I was blown away by this play," Millet said. "This show was a laugh a minute. It was 90 degrees in this theater and not a soul left."

The play premiered in June at the Sojourner Theater in Erie.

Ms. O'Connell said the play -- she saw a recording of it -- encourages people with disabilities to set high goals. She said, in some cases, people with disabilities are told they're valuable up to a point and don't go beyond that point.

"They can go higher than maybe is popular with the general society," she said. "We can go to college, get married, have families and buy houses."

Actor Michael Adamus took the theme to heart. "United We Stand" was his first play.

"I really wasn't sure about it at first, but it was one of those things I've always wanted to do," he said of acting.

He was encouraged by Kocur, a former Edinboro University classmate, to try acting in the play and enjoyed it so much that when Kocur decided to form the troupe -- based on the success of "United We Stand" -- Adamus became a member of the troupe's board.

"We call it a company, but it's become like a family," said Adamus, 34, of Erie. "That first play, no one really knew what was going on and we all leaned on each other."

The 19-member cast, a mixture of people with disabilities and those without, is looking to do the play outside of Erie.

"It's easier for us to go there than for them to come to Erie," said Adamus, who also uses a wheelchair.

The title will likely get people thinking in a patriotic mode and of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The troupe is not discouraging such impressions, even though the play was written and first performed long before Sept. 11.

"It's going to be one of those things you need after a tragedy," Millet said. "It wakes you up. But it wakes you up with so much humor that you feel good about it."