Press Release

Christmas Belles

By Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten

Performances of Christmas Belles are at 8:00 PM November 28,29 & December 4,5,6,11,12,13 Sunday matinees are 2:00 PM Novemeber 30th and December 7th. Tickets are $20.00 and $17.00 for students, Seniors and Milatary. For reservations and information, call the theatre at 249-0289 or visit our website for online reservations at www.playersbythesea.org.

The church pageant gets hilariously hijacked by three wacky sisters in
Christmas Belles.

It's over-the-top holiday comedy November 28 - December13 on our Mainstage!
Opens Thanksgiving weekend.....

The holidays are the time to share heart-warming classic stories that families treasure year after year. Christmas Belles isn't one of those stories! It's a wacky, over-the-top comedy about the competitive, irrational behavior that the holidays unleash in the Futrelle sisters of Fayro, Texas as they mastermind the annual Christmas pageant. Part of a trilogy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten that affectionately celebrates the eccentricities of smalltown Southern life, the show has developed a devoted following. When Board Member Brooks Anne (Hayes) Meyerdierks brought it to the attention of the Repertory Committee, they fell in love with the twisted sisters and Executive Director Joe Schwarz was so taken with the script that he agreed to direct it. It's a light-hearted change of pace after the darkly brilliant Sweeney Todd and it brought out a cast ready for fun.

Brooks Anne, Pelican Award winner and one of our most gifted character comediennes, won the role of HoneyRaye Futrelle, who has wrested control of the Christmas pageant from Miss Geneva Musgrove after twenty-seven years. PBTS favorite Gayle Featheringill plays Miss Geneva and she's not about to take defeat lying down. HoneyRaye's hope of support from her two sisters may be delusional. Middle sister Twink, played by Amy Allen Farmer, is in jail (though not for long) after her attempt to avenge a broken heart with arson gets out of control and burns down half the town. Amy is taking a comic turn, as only she can, after her heart-breaking performance as the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd. Youngest sister Frankie, played by Lee Hamby, is hugely pregnant with twins (again). Yes, you read that right. Lee clearly needed a laugh after directing the tragic and brooding Sweeney Todd. Those who saw him in drag in Psycho Beach Party and Seussical the Musical know he's just the one to put the fun in dysfunctional. Paul Rowe plays Lee's husband, long-suffering Dub Dubberley. (And if that pairing doesn't get you into the theatre, nothing will.) But it gets even giddier! Dana Branch, our brilliant Mrs. Lovett of Sweeney Todd, plays their daughter Gina Joe!

Other Sweeney veterans out for a lark include Bill White as town idiot Raynerd Chisum and Gary Baker, who plays Gina Joe's suitor Justin Waverley. He's Pastor of the Tabernacle of the Lamb Pentecostal Church and part time stock clerk at the SmartMart.
There's plenty of intrigue, with Peg Ingram returning to our stage after far too long an absence to play the suspiciously-ingratiating Rhonda Lynn Lampley, manager of the Dairy Dog. JoAnna Vanderkolk practically has the patent on playing hilarious, hoity-toity Southern society belles and we're delighted to welcome her to PBTS as Patsy Price, who is determined to take the upstart Futrelle sisters down a peg or two. Allen Morton plays the Deputy Sheriff in hot pursuit of escaped fugitive Twink. More disaster threatens as Santa's appearance is hampered by a painful kidney stone, the cast is afflicted with food poisoning from the Band Boosters' Pancake Supper, and a long-kept Futrelle family secret emerges to disrupt the pageant.

We love the warm and uplifting ending that affirms what we've always believed: that families, no matter how crazy, are our greatest source of strength and love. And that's a wonderful message to share during the holiday season.

For reservations call 249 0289 or click here for online reservations.