The Bay Tree Council for the Performing Arts in Red Bay has announced auditions for its third and final production of the season, “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” by Beth Henley.

Auditions will be held Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. and Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at Community Spirit Bank’s Weatherford Centre in Red Bay. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script, with the cast consisting of two men and four women. Some parts are appropriate for older teens.

The setting is the small Mississippi town of Brookhaven; the time is a few days before the Fourth of July. Carnelle Scott, known locally 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 – who has walked out on her rich but boring husband and her two small children – complicates matters a bit, as does the repeated threat of Elain’s eccentric brother, Delmount, who was recently released from a mental institution to sell the family homestead and decamp for New Orleans. But aided by a touchingly awkward seamstress named Popeye and several other cheerfully nutty characters, Carnelle perseveres, leading to “a denouement of unparalleled hilarity, compassion and moving lyricism as all concerned finally escape their unhappy pasts and turn hopefully toward what must surely be a better future,” according to a play synopsis provided by the BTCPA.

The performances will be April 27-30, with Mark Richardson directing. For more information, contact Richardson at 256-356-3099.