COLLEGE PLAY: 'Firecracker' sparks a challenge
By Jamie Annel
A&E Co-Editor
The college’s spring play, “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” is progressing on schedule, despite what IVCC theatre director Dr. David Kuester described as an acting challenge for the students.
The play revolves around Carnelle Scott, a woman who tries to salvage her tarnished reputation by entering the local Miss Firecracker beauty contest. Things are soon complicated, however, when Carnelle’s cousin Elain arrives in town, and Delmount, Elain’s brother, is released from an insane asylum. According to Kuester, the two main characters of Carnelle and Elain are, relatively speaking, the most normal.
“Put together they make one sane woman,” he said.
The four remaining characters are all “way out of left field,” he added.
While Kuester said that the cast has been doing extremely well, he also said that the fast-pacing of the play can be “draining.”
Despite the setting of Brookhaven, a small-town in Mississippi, the actors are not required to speak with Southern accents. Instead, they will concentrate on emphasizing the unique speech patterns of the dialogue by Beth Henley.
The crew has contructed two sets; a house, and a fairground tent in which the pageant takes place.
The cast and crew have a total of six weeks of rehearsal, often running until 9 or 10 p.m., with a dress rehearsal the day before opening. Kaaren Holt will play Carnelle, with Sarah Heitmann as Elain and Eddie Vasquez as Delmount. Other cast members include Amber Mecum as seamstress Popeye Jackson, Jeremy Taylor as balloon man Mac Sam, and Megan Zomboracz as contest coordinator Tessey Maloney.
The production assistants are Kyle Chamberlain and Jose Miranda.
The New York Times has called the play “alternately Southern Gothic absurdist, melancholy and broad,” while the Hollywood Reporter called its subject matter a “a comic volcano.”
The play will be presented on March 1-3 at 8 p.m. in the Cultural Centre. In addition, there will be a 2:30 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 4th. Admission is free to all IVCC students, faculty and staff who present their ID. General admission is $5.