The Theatre Company of the Ozarks and
the Ozark Arts Council Present a
Jones Hope Wooten Comedy:
Always a Bridesmaid
Thursday-Saturday, June 25–27, 7:00PM
Sunday, June 28, 2:00PM
The Theatre Company of the Ozarks and The Ozark Arts Council, will present Always a Bridesmaid #LiveAtTheLyric the last weekend of June, 2020 (June 25–28)! Tickets are available through TheLyric.org with Advance Tickets priced at $8 children, $10 seniors, $12 adults. Ticket prices at the door will be $11 children, $13 seniors, $15 adults.
In trying times, what could be better than a healthy does of Jones Hope Wooten comedy? Three of the most popular and widely-produced playwrights in the 
country, with Broadway, film, and TV credits (e.g., The Golden Girls and Disney’s Teacher’s Pet), Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten specialize in laugh-out-loud comedies, and this will be a great one!
Please Note for Your Safety and Comfort: We have our patrons’ health and well-being first and foremost in our minds as the Covid-19 numbers rise but we’re all learning to work around it, so please make sure you read the guidelines below that we have put into place (per the Arkansas Department of Health’s directives) to keep you protected. Please read carefully, as we are required to abide strictly by these guidelines—and please note that, because the play is still a month away, these guidelines may change. If they do, we will be sure to update you. We are doing everything we can in our cleaning procedures and following of the ADH guidelines to keep you safe, and we appreciate your doing the same for our volunteers and performers.
Wedding Season is just around the corner…
…and we can’t wait to see our darling Southern Belles marry their soulmates this month (June 25-27 at 7:00pm and June 28 at 2:00pm) at our own beautiful and historic “wedding venue,” The Lyric Theater! More about the story will follow the ADH guidelines for attending plays this Summer.
The ADH Requirements
- Patrons must be required to wear a mask if over 10 years of age.
- Every patron’s temperature must be checked upon entrance and will be asked several questions pertaining to travel and health. Patrons will not be able to enter if:
- They have fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, or loss of taste or smell.
- They have had known exposure to someone with Covid-19 in the past 14 days.
- A 6-foot gap must be maintained between patrons who do not “shelter together,” so only groups with family members should get tickets with adjoining seats. If you plan on going with anyone who does not live in the same household with you, please call 870-391-3504 for our help on getting you seats as close together as possible, while still allowing for the “social distancing” regulations.
- We are allowed to serve refreshments, so our concession stand and the upstairs Immortal BarD will be open. However, we will have signs posted reminding patrons to keep a 6 foot distance, and we will not be able to accommodate clustering of groups at the counters.
- Though it is a tradition at the Lyric to allow audience members to come up and greet the cast at the end of plays, we will forego this for now to keep the required 12 feet of distance between those on stage and those in the audience. If you wish to tell the cast “good job!” we will have a digital guestbook set up where you can leave your well wishes!
If you have any questions about how we are protecting our volunteers, or about any of the guidelines, please don’t hesitate to call 870-391-3504 or send an email here.
The Story
Always a Bridesmaid is a Jones Hope Wooten Southern Comedy.
If you’ve ever elbowed a stranger out of the way to catch a brideís bouquet, seriously questioned the mental stability of the duo saying “I do” or been forced to wear the world’s ugliest bridesmaid dress, this deliriously funny Jones Hope Wooten comedy is definitely for you—and your dearly beloved!
In this hilarious comedic romp, four friends have sworn to keep the promise they made on the night of their Senior Prom: to be in each other’s weddings—no matter what. More than thirty years later, these Southern friends-for-life are still making “the long walk” for each other, determined to honor that vow. Libby Ruth (Julianna Hamblin), the hopeful romantic with the perfect marriage, believes—in spite of all evidence to the contrary—that her friends can find the very same happiness. Headstrong Deedra’s (Spree Hilliard) “rock-solid” union hangs by a thread when she discovers her husband of many years not only has a wandering eye, but the hands to match. Monette (Kirstyn Walker), flashy, high-spirited and self-involved, continues to test her friends’ love and patience with all-too-frequent trips down the aisle. And salt-of-the-earth, tree-hugging Charlie (Emily Akins) discovers—the hard way—that marital bliss is not the end of her rainbow and panics in outrageous style when the opportunity presents itself.
Narrated hilariously by blushing bride Kari (Callie Johnson) and with energetic life-force Sedalia (Linda Henson) running the show, this is sure to make you believe in what friendship can do. Libby Ruth, Deedra, Monette and Charlie are committed to the notion that careers, waistlines and even marriages may disappear, but real friendships last a lifetime. Forsaking all others, in sickness and in health, they repeatedly struggle to stage the perfect wedding in spite of fistfights at the altar, runaway brides and the mistaken, and unfortunate, release of a flock of white doves on the first day of hunting season.
Hop on this marriage-go-round for a laugh-out-loud journey with these beleaguered bridesmaids as they navigate the choppy waters of love and matrimony. Always a Bridesmaid is the rollicking tale of four loyal and determined women who definitively answer the question, “Just how far are you willing to go to keep a promise to a friend?”
Join us at The Lyric for great southern comedy June 25–28. Tickets for Always a Bridesmaid are available now here at TheLyric.org by clicking any “Get Tickets” link, by stopping by the OAC office at 115 W. Rush Ave. between 9 & 1 Tuesday through Friday, or by calling (870) 391-3504 (please leave a detailed message if you get our voicemail).
The Theatre Company of the Ozarks and The Ozark Arts Council, will present the raucous comedy, Nunsense II: The Second Coming #LiveAtTheLyric the second weekend of September (September 10–13)! 
In Truvy’s (Trish Lockridge), beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are anybody come to have their hair done, the shop is abuzz with gossip and coffee and hairspray. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (Katie Blessing), who may or may not be married, the wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoo and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser (Mary Bishop), whose 40-year-old bad mood has only sharpened her wit; an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee (Gwen Gresham), who has a sweet tooth for football teams; and the local social leader, M’Lynn (Lisa Johnson) and her vivacious daughter, Shelby (Callie Johnson), who is about to marry a “good ol’ boy.” Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions between the five ladies, the play moves toward tragedy when the spunky Shelby (who has 
Steel Magnolias will be performed #LiveAtTheLyric August 16 and 17 at 7:00pm, and August 18 at 2:00pm. Proceeds from the August 16 show will go to the 
focused on vocals, acting, and choreography, as well as the proper etiquette for being in a play and attending a play, all of which culminated in a short performance for the family and friends of the children—many of whom are gracing the Lyric stage for the first time ever. Only then was attention turned fully to this play, where those new or refined acting, singing, and dancing skills could be put into practice for the sellout performances this July will bring.
We hope you will join us both for the entertainment and lesson imparted by this classic story and for the building of our community that attendance at Arts events—especially at young people’s theatre—always brings. The OAC and its Member Organizations are committed to having children of all ages learn about the Arts and develop a love for them that reaches beyond their early years, so that they grow up to be well-rounded, empathetic adults. These “Jr.” plays, and the directors who bless us by giving up a portion of their summers, are a huge first step in that direction.
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times: do not fan the girls when they’re wet! But you’ll never learn; you’ll be a eunuch all your life!
When Senex and Domina leave for the day, Hero declares his love for one of the ladies who live at his next door neighbor’s house, Philia (Katie Blessing), and that’s when Pseudolus begins to hatch a scheme to buy his own freedom.
When the two visit Lycus’s house, once they get past the eunuchs (Donovan Walters and Nicholas Prpich) they meet Tintinabula (Cady Wheeler), a bell-wearing beauty; Vibrata (Kennedy Bottoms), an energetic, lively lovely with a leopard skin bikini; the Geminae (Faith Nix and Dante Lowe), a “matched pair”; Panacea (Nikki Forehand), a seductive dancer; and Gymnasia (Spree Hilliard), with a body upon which “a thousand dramas can be played.” They and the other lovely courtesans (Lena Rocole, Jenna Wilson, Rilee Young, Kaley Jones) are tempting, but Hero and Pseudolus are alarmed to find out that Philia has been sold to the great Captain Miles Gloriosus (Caleb Lord), and will be claimed that very day.
doubled over with laughter, attempting to keep up with what wackiness will occur next.
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s what you do with your dancin’ shoes.
trained, originally from the delta of Jonesboro. She made her professional debut with Opera Experience Southeast as Nella and Lauretta cover in Gianni Schicchi. She is at home in both opera and musical theatre and has since performed with Springfield Regional Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Opera in the Rock, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, The Messiah Project, Forum Sinfonia of Krakow, Poland, Ozark Family Opera Company, Conway Dinner Theatre, Springfield Little Theatre, and Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre.
Opera, Springfield Regional Opera, MSU Opera Workshop, Classic Arts Chamber Works, Branson Arts Council, as a University of Central Missouri guest artist, Jubilee Concerts in St. Louis, Kansas City Bach Festival, and many others in Missouri, Central OK Concert Series in Oklahoma City, as guest artist at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, and Trinity Concerts in Hutchinson, Kansas.
The Lyric Theater for an outstanding play OF the kids, BY the kids, and FOR the kids: Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, Jr.! Based on one of Roald Dahl’s most poignantly quirky stories, 
ensemble of wild, wacky, wonderful characters, from 5 years old to 18 years old! From Willy Wonka and his Oompa-Loompas, to Bitsy Botana and her Ladies Garden Guild, there is sure to be a colorful character that you will love! The ensemble includes children from previous productions, and quite a few new ones too, all lending their time and talent to make this production abso-fruit-ly fantastic: 
Serena Bolonsky, Zoey Bolonsky, Callie Caraway, Jocelyn Green, Lorelai Green, Declan Jenkins, Kyran Jenkins, Candace Lambert, Zachary Linn, Cammie Linscott, Shyanne Lusk, Chloe Monk, Faith Nix, Emma Pruitt, Sadie Sharp, Elizabeth Smith, Kayla Smith, Lexi Sprenger.