Play Review
Andrews – In capping the production season, the ACT2 Players sent audiences off with a fine Southern farewell as their take on Southern Fried Funeral was held May 2-3 at the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center.
Both dinner shows played to sold-out audiences. With first-time director Sarah Reynolds at the helm, the production went as smoothly as any Southern family gathering: lots of laughter, a few tears and a fairy-tale ending worthy of Dixie lore.
The play – written by J. Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, known professionally as Osborne and Eppler – chronicles all the foibles of Southern families navigating serious situations when emotions have been bottled for years in a typically passive-aggressive manner.
Set in small-town Mississippi and in a large kitchen, the one-set stage provided an eagle-eye view of a family crisscrossing paths and histories and avoiding all its dysfunctions, as the kitchen is the crossroads of the heart and hearth of the home. The Fryes proved there are plenty of fires burning around every home, some having simmered into an unspeakable rage that can only vent itself before being extinguished.
The story of the Fryes’ plight hinges on the death of patriarch Dewey, who is absent for the whole play save for one picture upon the large kitchen set. Inevitably, Dewey’s brother Dub – played expertly with pointed cane, snazzy suit and snide serpentine charm by local legend Fuzzy, in his second recent turn on stage – enters seemingly in mourning, while Dub comes sniffing around the freshly dug drama of a widow in need.
Fuzzy said in playing his character that he was conjuring the prototypical “snake in the grass,” just waiting to strike and relished his time to be a true adversarial antagonist by trying to undermine his sister-in-law at every turn in taking what he feels is rightly his.
That widow and same-sister-in-law is Dorothy Frye, played expertly and with a cloistered belle-ish charm all her own by Jane Birchfield in another of her longtime turns to trod cultural arts center boards. Dorothy remains indomitable by all counts, as her family pleads with her to acknowledge her feelings regarding her husband’s death, but she’s a strong Southern woman who heals on her own terms, with no coaching or interference from anyone.
Birchfield’s Dorothy is a stereotypical “steel magnolia,” only revealing her vulnerabilities in private in a particularly touching soliloquy as she speaks to her deceased husband whilst wrapping herself in an abandoned cardigan. The pathos Birchfield displayed is one of a recent loss, the mourning and grief only beginning to skirt the first stage, a tender last moment in which she pledges always to remember and cherish her husband – and to sheepishly admit looking forward to seeing him again after her trip to Panama City Beach.
The central action, apart from Dub’s schemes to take his brother’s home and land from his widowed sister-in-law, is fraughtly brought to the stage by Dayna Jones and Stacy Messer’s performances as the unreconciled sisters Sammy Jo and Harlene.
Jones, a longtime veteran of the cultural arts center’s productions in various capacities, shone in her turn as the beleaguered responsible daughter who stayed in town to take over both her familial roles as daughter, then wife and mother to her own family. The resentment built up over years and released during the sisterly rant positively electrified the stage.
Messer sparkled as Harlene, the seeming ne’er-do-well prodigal daughter who left a small town for big city dreams. Harlene’s admissions that all that glitters isn’t gold in her glamorous life is enough to soften her tough persona, with Messer easily slipping in between that
private revelation and the brass-tacks sass it takes to wrap up things to save her family by rekindling her relationship with local attorney Atticus “Attie” Van Leer.
Van Leer, played by Kevin Garrett in his first time acting since high school in Andrews, is that Jungian variant of those laconic Southern lawyers. Meanwhile, Garrett’s stage presence reminded of a cool and calculating legal mind, pacing accordingly toward his prey, never too taken aback by anyone’s behaviors and actions, that steady observer of human behavior which tracks placidly until the time to pounce is evident and most beneficial.
Brianna Rickett’s Fairy June was the punch-line catalyst, having some of the best one-liners of the entirety including the zinger, “Such a nice day for a funeral.” Rickett said playing Fairy June was a refreshing change of pace from the characters she has played before.
Another first-time actress but longtime volunteer with the theatre group, Jami Dyer, gave her inaugural performance as Martha Ann Fox, family friend and eavesdropper extraordinaire. Dyer said this was a great role and she was excited to play it, with some zingers and one-liners of her own – plus snappy green heels to wear.
Rounding out the cast of characters, Taylor Swain’s perfectly played “church lady” and all-around busybody Ozella Meeks provides comic relief and that sense of a nosey neighbor and well-wisher all too familiar in both the funereal and real lives of Southerners. With a pie to the face in one of the best coordinated scenes in recent play history, Swain’s well-meaning woman whose church lunches were a breeze of freshly whipped air.
Reynolds’ husband, Brychan, was played Benny Charles Greenwood with his typical veteran performer aplomb. Reynolds said of being directed by his wife, “It’s no different than normal.”
Another longtime veteran of ACT2, Judd Cresman, played Beecham Lefette, husband to Jones’ Sammy Jo. The marital strife that sparked between the two lit up many a scene, with Cresman’s Beecham begging for his wife’s communication, understanding, support and acknowledgment. While Beecham tries to placate Sammy Jo, he also tries to unravel the intensely gnarled ball of sisterly turmoil that has grown within his wife’s internal organs to replace her sense of wifely duty.
The true scene and show stealer throughout was Kyia Lovingood as Dewey Jr. Lovingood’s impeccable comic timing was evident in every scene, from trying to make her own breakfast to popping in to find a newspaper with all the winning lottery numbers. Her entrances were that of a one-woman Greek chorus, keeping the audience apprised of meal arrivals and the onslaught of visitors paying respects.
Many people in the audience – including Kay Foy, Erla and Frank Jones and Jan Olsen – were heard to say, “I believe it’s the best one so far,” proving that the troupe pleases its crowds with every production. Those statements stand as testament to Reynolds’ team behind the scenes, which included stage manager and another veteran Sawyer Bradley, assistant stage manager and understudy Diane Myers in her first time volunteering with the group, and lights and wound as undertaken by Miranda Queen.
The dinner was served pre-show by Shayla Dyer, Myers and another recent performer from Beauty and the Beast, Samantha Strickland. Jones’ restaurant Burger Boy of Murphy catered the meal, which featured typical funeral fare with fried chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese along with potato salad. Desserts provided by Homespun Hobbies of Andrews were a particularly tasty banana pudding, along with the bakery’s signature ooey-gooey butter cake.
Reynolds said she was elated by both the turnout and her experience as director, so much so that she’ll be happy to be back in the director’s chair for next spring’s production of the sequel to this play with Southern Fried Nuptials, which hopefully will reprise most of the cast.
“It’s always weddings and funerals,” Reynolds said, “so we can’t wait to see what sparks fly at the Fryes’ next function.”
Details: Visit facebook.com/ACT2Players.