Red Velvet Cake War

Published 5:00 am Friday, February 20, 2015

  Mark these dates on your calendar, Feb. 26-March 4, because you see the Meridian Little Theatre brings a play performance that you must not miss. The mad-cap southern comedy will have you gasping for breath, while your belly-laughs continue non-stop throughout the entire zany two-act play production of “The Red Velvet Cake War.” I bet you a pecan pie that your giggles will continue for weeks to come after attending this southern-fried performance.

         I’m certain you will agree there is no humor as potent as southern humor. I mean that’s just a fact. The playwrights, Jessie Jones, Nichalos Hope, and Jamie Wooten, might live right down the street; such is their tumultuous, yet innocent, and contagious non-sense. The three main characters (the Verdeen cousins) could be your cousins (and maybe they are?), so clearly can we, as folks living below the Mason-Dixon Line, relate to their outrageous antics.

         But when you meet the yammering, yapping, loudmouthed, and rip-roaring, wailing, shameless characters, then you will know the little town of Sweetgum, Texas, is, indeed, “right down the road.” Allow me to quickly introduce the whole crazy bunch. You must be prepared (I’m just thinking of your health.)

    Gaynelle Verdeen Bodine (Donna P. Colburn) – going through a life crisis (cheating husband and gossiping town).

    Peaches Verdeen Belrose (Sidney Covington) – a mortuarial cosmetologist “artist” who is wild and fun-loving.

    Jimmie Wyvette Verdeen (Connie Bishop) — rough-around-the-edges good ole girl who is mainly known for her distinct uni-brow.

    Uncle Aubrey Verdeen (Allen Hunt) – good natured family patriarch who tells-it-like-he-sees-it.

    Aunt LaMerle Verdeen Minshew (Charlotte Tabereaux) – goody-two-shoes conniving elder aunt of the family who protects the family reputation at all costs.

    Newt Blaylock (Zena Limerick) – a little strange but harmless wig/bait (especially night-crawlers) salesman who sports a glass eye.

    Cee Cee Windham (Sharon Burt) – stylish local TV star and friend of Verdeen cousins.

    Bitsy Hargis (Stacey Pollock) – nosey neighbor who rivals Jimmie for the affections of a recent neighborhood widower.

    Elsa Dowdall (Tori Moore) – Eastern European born appointed psychologist to evaluate Cousin Gaynelle’s sanity.

    Cousin Purvis Verdeen (Billy Jack Ethridge) – camera toting with a fetish for snapping funeral photos and he’s not quiet about it either.

    Sheriff Grover Lout (Ward Calhoun) — red-neck, small-town sheriff, who protects Sweetgum, Texas citizens, mostly from themselves.

    Mamma Doll Hargis (Anne McKee) – Bitsy’s mother and Uncle Aubrey’s sweet-thing.

         Didn’t I tell you this production is a riot? Everything is included to make the plotline wild and eccentric, but at the same time, perfectly understandable to the likes of us. There’s a crazy red velvet cake baking wager made between Aunt LaMerle and Cousin Gaynelle, with Gaynelle’s house as the prize. This comes about after Gaynelle accidentally crashes her min-van into her husband’s slut of a girlfriend’s trailer. When she is arrested, the whole town goes into a gossiping frenzy, which causes Aunt LaMerle who is embarrassed by the rip-romp, to call off the annual Verdeen family reunion.

    The three cousins, Peaches, Jimmie, and Gaynelle put their heads together to save the house and put on the reunion as they battle a “yellow as corn” tornado-laden sky while a love-match between a one-eyed Texan and a baton-twirling “foreign woman” will touch your heart or at least make you shake your head – not to mention Uncle Aubrey and Mamma Doll’s romance that seems smeared all over the stage.

         Ain’t love wonderful?

         One by one the crazy, yet lovable characters march to the stage with a fast-paced, jaw-dropping dialogue, which will leave you blurry-eyed, but at the same time, proud to be a Southerner.

         In the real world (I’m sorry, I know you are not ready to come back), but in conjunction with the play is a Red Velvet Cake Contest for our community, with great prizes. Check out the rules: www.meridianlittletheatre.com

         So come out – forget taxes, forget politics, forget your worries – join the little community of Sweetgum, Texas. If you squint just a little, you might think all of this craziness took place in Meridian (and maybe it did?)

    What: Red Velvet Cake War

    Place: Meridian Little Theatre

    When: Feb. 26-March 4

    Time: 7:30 p.m. nightly with 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon matinee.   

    Anne McKee is a writer and storyteller. Visit her website: www.annemckee.net