In October 2007, audiences in the Lyric Theater roared with laughter over the antics of the Futrelle Sisters of Fayro, Texas, in the Theatre Company production of Dearly Beloved. The second show of the Futrelle Sisters Trilogy will be played on the Lyric Stage this December. Written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, Christmas Belles will have you rolling in the aisles. “Christmas Belles” is presented by special permission from Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
It is Christmas-time in the small town of Fayro, Texas, and the Futrelle Sisters - Frankie, Twink and Honey Raye - are not exactly in a festive mood. A cranky Frankie is weeks overdue with her second set of twins. Twink, recently jilted and bitter about it, is in jail for inadvertently burning down half the town. And hot-flash-suffering Honey Raye is desperately trying to keep the Tabernacle of the Lamb’s Christmas Program from spiraling into chaos. But things are not looking too promising. Miss Geneva, the ousted director of the previous twenty-seven productions, is ruthless in her attempts to take over the show. The celebrity guest, Santa Claus, played by Frankie’s long suffering husband, Dub, is passing a kidney stone. One of the shepherds refuses to watch over his flock by night without pulling his little red wagon behind him. And the entire cast is dropping like flies due to food poisoning from the Band Boosters’ Pancake Supper. And when Frankie lets slip a family secret that has been guarded for decades, all hope for a successful Christmas program seems lost, even with an Elvis impersonator at the manger. But in true Futrelle fashion, the feuding sisters find a way to pull together in order to present a Christmas program the citizens of Fayro will never forget. Their hilarious holiday journey through a misadventure-filled Christmas Eve is guaranteed to bring joy to your world.
The three playwrights have impressive backgrounds: Jessie Jones co-authored the play, Dearly Departed, as well as its screen adaptation, Kingdom Come; Nicholas Hope won the Texas New Playwright's Festival for his first play, A Friend of the Family and was Director of Casting for ABC Television in Los Angeles; and North Carolina native Jamie Wooten has written and produced nearly four hundred episodes of network television, including four seasons on the classic series The Golden Girls. All three playwrights were born and raised in the pre-Wal-Mart South and cherish their heritage. They write about the South they know best - the South of their childhoods before the great homogenization of American culture had taken hold.
CAST
Click the cast member name to read their bio.
Most of the cast of Dearly Beloved are returning for the second story in the trilogy. You will see many of your favorites:
Three new cast members are:
- Jackie Buxton as Rhonda Lampley, manager of the Dairy Dog
- Mike Bishop as Raynerd Chisum, part time employee of the Dairy Dog and just a crayon shy of a full box
- Troy Walker as John Curtis the sheriff
Christmas Belles is directed by Mary Bishop, assisted by Jackie Buxton. Jerome Tauer is the stage manager, with assistance from Cameron Carlton. Tony Grimes is Technical Director. Set Design and Construction by Ann Graffy. Musical Director is Paul McBride.
CAST BIOS
Vive Allen (Geneva)
Vive was involved in theatre in high school, and this is her fifth role with the Theatre Company at the Lyric. She had roles in 1776, Bible Herstory, and Agnes of God, as well as playing Geneva in last year’s Dearly Beloved. She is a member of the Woman’s Book Club, and serves as their liaison with the Ozark Arts Council. She has a son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Tera Allen.
Michael Bishop (Raynerd)
Michael moved to the Harrison area in 1986 from Alabama/Louisiana. His first play with the Theatre Company was The Murder Room. A veteran actor, he has also directed many Theatre Company productions. Mike will be seen onstage as Mother Burnsides in the upcoming spring production of Mame, and will be co-directing The Rocky Horror Show in October 2009. He worked professionally as Earthquake McGoon at Dogpatch, and then worked in park shows in Houston, Buffalo, NY, and at Silver Dollar City. He was awarded the 2008 Theatre Company Legend Award at the 2008 Theatre Awards.
Mary A. Bishop (Director)
Mary has been involved with Theatre Company for over 30 years. If she was to pick a favorite role from the years of being on stage, it would be a toss up between Ouiser in Steel Magnolias and Betty in The Foreigner. However, she has enjoyed any role she has had on stage. She has enjoyed directing Christmas Belles, the second in the trilogy of the Futrelle sisters of Fayro, TX, and hopes to direct the final in the series Southern Hospitality sometime in the near future. Along with Patricia McBride, she was honored at the 2007 Theatre Awards with a 2007 Theatre Company Legend award. Mary and her husband Mike (Raynerd) enjoy three children, 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, six cats, and three dogs.
Jackie Buxton (Rhonda Lynn)
Jackie’s first audition only occurred because her youngest daughter, AnneMarie, needed some encouragement. This was in 1988. AnneMarie has since grown up and moved away to the big city, but Jackie caught the bug and continues auditioning and performing. The part of Rhonda Lynn is quite different from Jackie's last role as Rose in Nuts, but the role of Rhonda carries its own set of challenges as Jackie has to talk Southern.
Cameron Carlton (Assistant Stage Manager)
Cameron has been involved with Lyric since 2006. He performed in and assisted with choreography for
Little Shop of Horrors at the Lyric. In high school he was a part of the stage crew for
Dracula, co-directed and starred in
The Butler Did It, was set designer for
Steel Magnolias, and performed in
Hillbilly Hankerin'. Cameron choreographed several musical acts with The Harrison High School Choir over a three-year period. He enjoys singing, writing lyrics and short stories, and is currently working on his first autobiography.
Nancy Dees (Patsy Price)
Christmas Belles will be Nancy’s fourth play. She was in Alice in Wonderland, The Bible Herstory, and Dearly Beloved as Patsy Price. She is married and has two children - Christopher and Amanda. She works at Skyline Heights Elementary as a kindergarten parapro.
Stephanie Dobbs (Gina Jo)
Stephanie has performed in many plays over the last few years here at the Lyric, most notably for her role in Dearly Departed as Delightful. She loves acting and has dreams of going to LA or New York to pursue her acting career while being a nurse.
Ann Graffy (Set Design)
Ann is a past president of the Harrison Art League, and has done set design and construction for The Foreigner, Charlotte’s Web, Gypsy, Dearly Departed, and Dearly Beloved, and helped on Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. Ann directed Ideal Husband, The Crucible, Agnes of God, and assistant directed on The Importance of Being Earnest. She is married to Mickey Horn, who is a big help to Ann in the construction phase of set design and construction.
Tony Grimes (Technical Director)
Tony is an emergency room nurse and also has a degree in electronics. He studied technical theater in college and continues to attend national workshops. His particular interest is in lighting design. He is the Theatre Company’s Technical Director.
Linda Henson (Twink)
Linda is married and has two sons and seven grandchildren. She has been performing for several years on stages and in theaters throughout Northwest Arkansas. She has appeared in numerous productions, her most recent being Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Dearly Beloved, Dearly Departed, and Bible Herstory. She is very excited to be playing the role of Twink Futrelle once again.
Amber Langston (Frankie)
This is Amber’s second production with the Theatre Company. Amber and her husband Travis have two children, Gabrien and Anamei. She was involved in theater in high school where she was on the Green Forest Forensics Team (competitive speech and drama). Since graduating, she has been asked to come back and judge regional tournaments in Green Forest and Springdale. In college, she studied under R.E. Davis as a member of the Pioneer Players. Plays she has been involved in include
Grease, Our Miss Brooks, Snow White, It Happens Every Summer, and most recently as Frankie in
Dearly Beloved.
Paul McBride (Tinney, Musical Director)
Paul has been involved with many Theatre Company productions, providing music, direction, acting, set construction, and even funding. He is a published musician and has sold music in numerous countries. Paul is currently working on typing the contents of his old notebooks, which are full of unintelligible material. They may still be unintelligible after he gets them all typed up, but he tries. He particularly likes Christmas music which he will be providing for this production.
Clark Middleton (Assistant Director)
Clark joined the merry band of Theatre Company players in 2003 after retiring from the Dallas area where he dabbled in the theater, film, and print venues as an amateur actor/model (always grossly underpaid). Here at the beautiful Lyric Theater he has been fortunate to share the stage with a very talented group of actors (at least that’s what they tell him). He is currently privileged to sit on the Theatre Company Board and the O.A.C. Board. They even let him co-host the annual Theater Awards show. This is his first time to assist in the production of a show. Ah, life in the theater - always fun, never dull, and always learning!
Dana O’Quin (Honey Raye)
Dana has been an active supporter of the Theatre Company and O.A.C. for several years. She has appeared in several past productions of dramas and musicals and is looking forward to recreating her favorite character: Honey Raye in Christmas Belles. She and her husband Morris are the proud parents of Marrick and Morgan. In additional to community theatre, she enjoys gardening, reading, and being a strong pack leader for her dogs and cats.
Marrick O’Quin (Justin)
Marrick is a student at Northark. He has appeared in numerous plays at the Lyric and was recently Brick in the Theatre Company’s dinner theater production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He recently performed in the college production of Slices of Life presented at the Lyric. Marrick plans to obtain a degree in political science. His long-term plans are to work in Washington, DC to lobby for American family farmers.
Jerome Tauer (Stage Manager)
Jerome has played a number of parts: Sir Farleigh Fancourt in The Scarlet Pimpernel; Sohovik in Damn Yankees; Sir Luce in Once Upon a Mattress; Jawan, the Master Brigand in Kismet; Stage Manager for Dearly Departed; Wiley Hicks in Dearly Beloved; Pappy in L’il Abner; Caeser Rodney in 1776; Dr. Grimwig in Erronius in A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Townsperson (American Gothic) in Music Man; Captain Windy in Showboat; Officer Brophy in Arsenic and Old Lace; Captain Orton in The King and I; stagehand for the Wizard of Oz; Lane in The Importance of Being Earnest’ bit parts in Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors and Send Me No Flowers. He is husband to his wonderful sweet wife Bonnie and father of two children (grown and married).
Jamie Taylor (Dub)
Jamie is a lifetime resident of Harrison and started acting at the age of 18 in college under R.E. Davis. His favorite characters include the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz, Ito in Mame, John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. Jamie has directed five productions at the Lyric for the Theatre Company: Barefoot in the Park, The Music Man, Arsenic and Old Lace, Gypsy, and God’s Favorite. He also directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which was done as a special dinner theater production in cooperation with Hospice of the Hills. He will be directing Mame the musical in March 2009, The Taming of the Shrew in May 2009, and co-directing The Rocky Horror Show in October 2009.
Troy Walker (John Henry)
Troy works as a detective for the Boone County Sheriff's department. He has been an officer for over 10 years; and it’s what he always wanted to do. He is living his dream job and considers it an honor to serve the people of Boone County. In his spare time you might find him trout fishing on the White River, or bass fishing on the lake. If he could have a job watching football, he might take it. He has two fantasy football teams and says spends too much time working on them. He also likes working in the yard and just being outside. He has three children and will be a grandfather for the first time in the late spring. Troy is engaged to Jennifer Worley, and they are planning a May 2009 wedding. Together, they enjoy movies, music of all kinds, their families, raising two stupid dogs, and just being together. Troy has recently discovered that he enjoy singing karaoke, he says it ain’t real good, but it’s loud. This is his first stage production since he played the butt of the big bad wolf in the McGehee Elementary School’s epic production of The Three Little Pigs in the 3rd grade. Troy says, "I am very excited to be involved in this production. I can’t wait for the next one!"
Photos above - the cast of Dearly Beloved will reprise their roles in Christmas Belles.
