UNITY THEATRE TO PRESENT: MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST

  

Unity Theatre’s first production in 2016 beings tomorrow (Thursday) with a preview of “Miss Firecracker Contest”.

The show will then run for 3 weekends through Sunday, February 28^th. Performances will be held on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 4pm.

Immediately following the preview tomorrow (Thursday) the audience will have the opportunity to stay afterwards and talk briefly with the cast and director of the show. Saturday, February 20^th, arrive 30 minutes early to the performance and have the opportunity to meet the director. Party Club members are invited to stay after the performance on the 20^th and have a light supper (reservations required) with the cast and crew hosted by the Ann Street Inn.

Reserved tickets are $27. Tickets for the preview are $17 and student tickets $15. Any and all unsold seats will be $15 just 15 minutes prior to all performances.

Reservations can be made at the Unity Theatre box office on Church Street, Monday through Fridays from 10am-2pm. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 979-830-8358 or by emailing tickets@unitybrenham.org.

For its first show of 2016, Unity Theatre brings you the comedy, The Miss Firecracker Contest by Beth Henley.  Carnelle Scott (known locally in the small Mississippi town of Brookhaven as “Miss Hot Tamale”) is rehearsing furiously for the Miss Firecracker Contest – hoping that a victory will salvage her tarnished reputation and allow her to leave town in a blaze of glory.  The unexpected arrival of her cousin Elain, a former Miss Firecracker winner, complicates matters, as does the repeated threat of Elain’s eccentric brother, Delmount (recently released from a mental institution) to sell the family homestead and decamp for New Orleans.  Aided by a touchingly awkward seamstress named Popeye (who is hopelessly smitten with Delmount) and other cheerfully nutty characters, will Carnelle persevere?  Can all concerned finally escape their unhappy pasts and turn toward what must surely be a better future?

Julia Traber returns as director of Firecracker after having played the role of Popeye in Unity’s prior production of the show in 2004. Her directorial credits at Unity include Almost, Maine, Greater Tuna, Angel Street, The Importance of Being Earnest, Enchanted April and Cyrano. You’ll see lots of familiar faces in this production, including Bethany McCade (A Piece of My Heart, Laundry and Bourbon, The Philadelphia Story, I Hate Hamlet, and Steel Magnolias), playing the role of Carnelle. The husband and wife team of Jen Lucy Estrada (A Piece of My Heart, Almost, Maine, The Chalk Garden, The Philadelphia Story, Steel Magnolias, Charley’s Aunt and Angel Street) and Josh Estrada (Plaid Tidings: Forever Plaid, Almost, Maine, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Philadelphia Story, Charley’s Aunt and Greater Tuna) return to the Unity stage as Popeye and Delmount. Rounding out the cast is Lisa Thomas Morrison as Elain, Jon Egging as Mac Sam, and Unity newcomer Lauren Dolk as Tessa.