BTCPA holds auditions March 2 for next production

RED BAY – The Bay Tree Council for the Performing Arts will hold auditions for its third and final production of the season, “Honky Tonk Hissy Fit,” at the Weatherford Centre at 2 p.m. on March 2.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the book. There are three men and six women in the cast with older teens being able to play older parts.

This play is the third in the trilogy of the previous “Doublewide, Texas” plays.

The production will take place April 24-27 at the Weatherford Centre. Tickets will go on sale the week before, but those wishing to book a group can contact Beth Hammock at 256-668-0045.

Thursday night is considered group night, but if there are enough people that want a meal with the play, another night is available. Groups are welcome to come even if they are not eating.

THE PLAY

In this rollicking, hilarious comedy, the Doublewide, Texas, gang is back, and life in their tiny town has gotten crazier than ever. Just when things are looking up — the population has grown to 17 mobile homes and a weekend farmers’ market — the rug is pulled out from under the residents yet again.

It seems their vacation rental trailer has drawn unwanted attention from a mega-corporation in Austin. Suddenly, the corporation is interested in Doublewide. Mayor Joveeta Crumpler is the only one suspicious enough to sound the alarm, but no one is listening.

Her mother, Caprice, is too self-involved with her “career” as a local celebrity to sense the growing threat, or to even realize that grumpy old Haywood Sloggett is increasingly drawn to her — and Sloggett is fighting those romantic feelings tooth and nail. Caprice is also bent on keeping her neighbor and rival, Big Ethel Satterwhite, from horning in on her domain — the Stagger Inn bar.

Big Ethel has her hands full trying to teach the town’s good-ol’-boy police chief, Baby Crumpler, how to dirty dance for a countywide competition. But Baby’s got as much chance of winning as Georgia Dean Rudd has of not jinxing her relationship with Nash Sloggett — she’s twisting herself into knots trying to dodge his constant marriage proposals.

And as the danger to the town grows, Joveeta can’t even count on the usually reliable and sweet health fanatic Lark Barken, because she’s currently under the spell of a demon she’s only recently discovered — caffeine.

But as the tentacles of the corporation envelope them all, can the citizens of this little Texas town put aside their problems and unite behind Joveeta to fight “the big guys” and turn the tide in Doublewide?

A heap of hilarity with a whole lot of heart — and a stand-alone play in its own right — “Honky Tonk Hissy Fit” is the third comedy in the trilogy that begins with “Doublewide, Texas” and continues with “Doublewide, Texas Christmas.”

By the triumphant finale of this ferociously funny Jones Hope Wooten comedy (Could there be a double wedding in Doublewide?), you’ll be throwing fits, alright — fits of laughter that’ll make your sides ache.