In the tradition of Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Flannary O’Connor and Eudora Welty, playwright Beth Henley – who hails from Jackson, Miss. – imbues her characters, dialogue and settings with rich Southern characteristics. One can almost smell the magnolia blossoms and taste the mint juleps when reading or watching one of Henley’s plays.
Another strong thread running through Henley’s work is her strong (if usually flawed) female characters. The theme of female bonding and a sense of sisterhood permeates all of Henley’s finest writing, beginning with the play that put her on the map in 1978, the black comedy “Crimes of Passion.” The title was later changed to “Crimes of the Heart” and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1981.
Critics lauded Henley for striving to keep “regional voices” alive in American literature, and “Crimes of the Heart” went on to Broadway, where it was nominated for a Tony, and then to the silver screen starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek. Henley was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay adapted from her original work.
Henley followed the success of “Crimes of the Heart” with her second best-known work, “The Miss Firecracker Contest.” The play opened off-Broadway in 1980 and was made into the film “Miss Firecracker,” starring Holly Hunter, Alfre Woodard and Tim Robbins, in 1989.
The play has become a staple of theater companies across the nation and is the latest offering at Springfield Little Theatre.
Set in the small Southern town of Brookhaven, Miss., “The Miss Firecracker Contest” revolves around Carnelle Scott, a naive, good-hearted 24-year-old woman who also is known as – to put it bluntly – the town slut.
The young men of Brookhaven have dubbed her “Miss Hot Tamale,” but Carnelle’s dream is to enter Brookhaven’s annual beauty pageant, become the official “Miss Firecracker,” and leave town in a blaze of glory.
The play opens with Carnelle rehearsing her “tap dance” routine to “The Star Spangled Banner.” J. Mackenzie Huley, a Southwest Missouri State University musical theater major and dance instructor at Springfield Little Theatre, brings a charming innocence to her role as Carnelle, winning the audience over from the start. Only someone skilled at dance can move so clumsily as to look like they’re really clumsy rather than just acting clumsy.
Carnelle enlists the help of a local seamstress, “Popeye” Jackson. Popeye doesn’t have Carnelle’s lofty ambitions and is content being a seamstress. We find that Popeye got her start in her field as a child, making outfits for the numerous frogs that inhabited the pond near her home.
Carnelle, who lives in the house that belonged to her recently deceased aunt, soon gets a pair of visitors. First is her cousin Elain, whose mother owned the house. Elain is a former Miss Firecracker who has come to town to give a speech at this year’s pageant. She’s also just left her husband, a fact even he doesn’t realize.
Next comes Elain’s brother, Delmount. Their mother has left the house and all of its furnishings to Delmount, who plans on selling everything and getting out of Brookhaven.
Delmount has an affection for Carnelle and has agreed to split the money from the sale of the house with her. He also thinks the Miss Firecracker contest is a stupid waste of time. So does Elain, but only because she believes Carnelle is too homely to win.
As the play progresses bonds are strengthened, dreams are born and some are shattered. In the end, the characters and the viewer realize the story is about much more than a small-town beauty pageant. It’s about the strength of friends, family and dreams.
“The Miss Fire-cracker Contest” is a much different production than SLT’s last offering, “The Wizard of Oz.” With only six characters, two main acts and minimal sets, this play is more about the substance of the work than the style.
Huley is a natural and no doubt will find work in her chosen field. SLT newcomer Heather Ludwig plays Popeye with a giddy goofiness. Longtime SLT patrons may sense she has the potential to follow in the footsteps of the late Sharon Rector, who cracked up audiences for many years at the Landers.
In a small role, local newswoman Angie Weidinger shows that she is a natural. One wonders if besides journalism she studied acting somewhere along the way. Her delivery of dialogue and her body language were impeccable and hilarious.
“The Miss Firecracker Contest” runs Thursdays through Sundays with the final performance March 27. Call Springfield Little Theatre at (417) 869-1334 for more details.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.
