PORTSMOUTH— Through five annual productions, the Portsmouth Little Theatre continues to provide a stage for local performers to show off to the community and provide live theatrical opportunities in an affordable way.

While the theatre is deep into rehearsals for the next drama, August: Osage County, the volunteers are ready to cast the next comedy, Honky Tonk Hissy Fit.

According to Dramatists, “In this rollicking, hilarious comedy, the Doublewide, Texas, gang is back and life in their tiny town has gotten crazier than ever! Just when things are looking up—the population has grown to seventeen mobile homes and a weekend farmers’ market—the rug is pulled out from under the residents yet again. It seems their vacation rental trailer has drawn unwanted attention from a mega-corporation in Austin. Suddenly the corporation is interested in Doublewide. Waaaay too interested. Mayor Joveeta Crumpler is the only one suspicious enough to sound the alarm, but no one is listening. Her mother, Caprice, is too self-involved with her ‘career’ as a local celebrity to sense the growing threat, or to even realize that grumpy old Haywood Sloggett is increasingly drawn to her—and Sloggett is fighting those romantic feelings tooth and nail. Caprice is also hell-bent on keeping her neighbor and rival, Big Ethel Satterwhite, from horning in on her domain—the Stagger Inn bar. Big Ethel has her hands full trying to teach the town’s good-ol’-boy police chief, Baby Crumpler, how to dirty-dance for a countywide competition. But Baby’s got as much chance of winning as Georgia Dean Rudd has of not jinxing her relationship with Nash Sloggett—she’s twisting herself into knots trying to dodge his constant marriage proposals. And as the danger to the town grows, Joveeta can’t even count on the usually reliable and sweet health fanatic Lark Barken—because she’s currently under the spell of a demon she’s only recently discovered: caffeine. But as the tentacles of the corporation envelope them all, can the citizens of this little Texas town put aside their problems and unite behind Joveeta to fight ‘the big guys’ and turn the tide in Doublewide?”

Auditions for the show will be Monday, February 5, between 6 and 8 p.m. and February 6, between 6 and 8 p.m. at the Portsmouth Little Theatre, 1117 Lawson Street.

“We are looking for both male and female actors, ages 20 and older, to fill three male roles and six female roles,” the Theatre announced. “There will be no monologues necessary, and there will be no video auditions accepted. Come join the fun.”

The show is being directed by longtime theatre veteran Eva Martin, who is taking her turn at directing for the first time. Martin has appeared in many productions, most recently being Misery, and will appear next in August: Osage County.

“I am very excited to bring my ideas to life on stage,” Martin said. “I’ve been acting for a long time and I love that you can get a group of people together with different ideas and create something the general public comes to enjoy and be entertained by.”

Martin has been studying the script while preparing for the production to start and believes the community will enjoy the story being brought to life.

“I think people are going to love the comedy of this show,” Martin claimed. “It is a fairly new production. It’s not been around for long, but people will love the characters and storyline, nonetheless. Be prepared to come to a show where you’ll be entertained.”

Martin said that, over many years in the theatre, she has experienced great performances from seasoned actors to newbies. She encourages everyone to audition for her show.

“I would say to definitely try out. If you have a love of shows, but haven’t participated, come and see the process if nothing else. You may decide you would rather be behind the scenes and that is fine, too. You may be surprised by how we make the magic happen and soon discover PLT is the family you never knew you were missing.”

Honky Tonk Hissy Fit will run April 5, 6, 12, and 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Portsmouth Little Theatre, 1117 Lawson Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662. To get your tickets now, visit pltlive.com.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.