Brooke Hills Playhouse Set to Present Season Finale
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WELLSBURG -- Brooke Hills Playhouse, along with season sponsors Municipal Mutual Insurance Company and Reasner Funeral Home, announces the final show of its 52nd season, "Last Round-Up of the Guacamole Queens," which will run this weekend, Aug. 18-20, and next weekend, Aug. 25-27.
In this deliciously funny Southern-fried comedy written by Jones Hope Wooten, the Verdeen cousins of Sweetgum, Texas -- Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette -- are up against the clock as they frantically attempt to produce the ultimate high school reunion before the old building is demolished. Add into the mix the attempt of the cousins to impress the governor's aide with their party-planning capabilities so they can nab the plum job of throwing the governor's birthday bash and keep their bridal business afloat.
If you saw "The Red Velvet Cake War" at the Playhouse in 2020, many of the same characters are back with the Verdeen cousins, including Cee Cee, Grover Lout, Uncle Aubrey and Aunt LaMerle, with Aunt LaMerle vowing to become the final and forever Guacamole Queen although cousin Gaynelle is vying to be queen as well.
A gut-busting Jones Hope Wooten farce, new characters Dewey Davenport and his malevolent hand puppet, Raynerd Chisum and his imaginary friend, televangelist Dixie Davenport, governor's aide Tanzie Lockhart, and elderly sisters Ennis and Della Crowder all join into the mischievous hilarity to keep the audiences in stitches.
Director Diana Mendel of Wellsburg stated, "The entire cast and I have been laughing nonstop since our read through and into our rehearsals. This truly is a show you don't want to miss if you like to laugh and you enjoy comedy at its finest."
Included in the cast are Crystal Sharma from Bethany as Cee Cee; Connie Knollinger-Wendel from Glen Dale as Jimmie Wyvette; ReGina Pino from Upper Sandusky, Ohio as Peaches; Sheila Cavalette from Weirton as Gaynelle Verdeen; Sherri Hall from Wellsburg as LaMerle Verdeen Minshew; Bob Lane from Wheeling and Jacksonville, N.C. as Aubrey Verdeen; Kim Brown from Wheeling as Dixie Davenport and Tanzie Lockhart; Diana Mendel from Wellsburg as Ennis Crowder; Betsy Young Joseph from Wheeling as Della Crowder; Joseph Pino from Upper Sandusky, Ohio as Grover Lout; Rob DeSantis from Follansbee as Dewey Davenport; and Dan Harry from Bethany as Raynerd Chisum.
Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Ticket prices are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and students and $10 for children. The box office opens one hour prior to performances.
Donations are still being sought to match a state grant to improve all electricity in the pre-Civil War apple barn known as the Playhouse. Brooke County Arts Council president Julia Barnhart remarked, "We are so very thankful for all of the funds collected so far, but we are still in dire need of $20,000. If you are able, please consider making a donation of any kind. A set monthly donation would help the Playhouse enormously."
For more information about "Last Round-Up of the Guacamole Queens" or making donations, call or text 304-737-3344.
Brooke Hills Playhouse is located in Brooke Hills Park in Wellsburg.