Event: "Christmas Belles" Off Broadway theatre production
Time: Dec. 9 and 10 at 7 p.m., Dec. 11 at 2 p.m
Event Type: Christmas Theatre Production
Location: Performing Arts Center in Selma
Cost: $10 adult and $5 child
Event Website: www.artsrevive.com
Sponsor: Arts Revive
Contact: 334-878-2787
Info: “Christmas Belles” play set in Selma Dec. 9, 10 and 11 at Performing Arts Centre.
If you’ve ever lived in a small, southern town where colorful characters contribute to its charm, then you’ll enjoy Encore’s Off Broad Street Productions’ next theatrical performance, “Christmas Belles.”
Sponsored by ArtsRevive, the play will be Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9 and 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center in Selma. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Tickets are on sale at Truax & Co., the Selma Public Library, the Centre for Commerce and from any cast member.
Directed by Cindy Stoudenmire and Beth Taylor, the play is set in the small town of Fayro, Texas, where the zany Futrelle sisters are an unlikely combination to put on Tabernacle of the Lamb’s annual Christmas pageant. Frankie, Twink and Honey Raye aren’t exactly jolly. Instead, Frankie is overdue with her second set of twins, and Honey Raye is suffering from hot flashes. Meanwhile, Twink is in jail for burning half the town when she only meant to destroy her ex-boyfriend’s NASCAR memorabilia.
Their rival is the former play director who refers to the sisters as “the fertile, the flirt and the felon,” and the local sheriff seems to prefer courting Twink rather than keeping her in jail. Meanwhile, there’s another church in town that’s competing with their play. Determined not to be outdone, Honey Raye declares, “I want to leave those First Baptists in the dust!”
More misadventures abound, and a band booster pancake supper poisons the entire pageant cast. Other characters include Futrelle enemy and wealthy church donor Patsy Price, the Forrest Gump-like Raynerd Chisum, who insists on pulling his red wagon everywhere; Santa Claus, who’s suffering from kidney stones; the Rev. Waverly, who prays for a raise so he doesn’t have to work as a part-time reindeer during the holidays; and a reluctant Elvis impersonator who is pushed into the pageant.
The fast-paced, two-act comedy is written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and James Wooten, all of whom were raised in the pre-Wal-Mart South. They share the “South they know best,” and all are acclaimed playwrights. Wooten wrote and produced nearly 400 episodes of the TV series “The Golden Girls,” and Hope won the Texas New Playwrights’ Festival for his first play, “A Friend of the Family.” Jones co-authored the play, “Dearly Departed” and its screen adaptation, “Kingdom Come.”
While the play promises non-stop hilarity, it also ends on a meaningful note, according to Stoudenmire.