Allentown, PA- Beth Henley's Southern comedy "The Miss Firecracker Contest" opens Feb. 18 at Muhlenberg College, with a cast of six college seniors.
Director Francine Roussel says that the cast is ideally suited to convey the play's themes of accepting ourselves for who we are in order to move ahead in our lives.
"Henley's themes are really strong, but there is a lightness to her writing," Roussel says.
"The show is a comedy, almost to the point of farce, but at the same time, there are extremely moving moments where the characters are at a precipice, looking at their lives."
"The Miss Firecracker Contest" runs Feb. 18-22 on the college's Studio Theatre stage.
Roussel says she selected the show because college students can relate to it ” both those playing the characters and those watching in the audience.
"They are at a point in their lives where they are going to invent their life after college," she says.
"I think the play is at the core of what's on their minds. What are their dreams' What are their concerns for the future'"
"The Miss Firecracker Contest" tells the story of 25-year-old Carnelle Scott, known around her tiny Mississippi town as "Miss Hot Tamale" for a past that she would like to forget.
She's got flaming red hair, a sparkler between her teeth, tap shoes on her feet, and The Star Spangled Banner on the tape deck, not to mention a burning desire to win the crown in this year's Miss Firecracker Contest ” the annual beauty pageant in her town.
Carnelle hopes a Firecracker victory will help her shake her tarnished reputation and leave town in a blaze of glory.
"All these characters are dealing with crucial rites of passage," Roussel says.
"You can laugh out loud, but at the same time realize how desperate the characters really are."
"The Miss Firecracker Contest" is Henley's followup to her Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy "Crimes of the Heart."
First produced in 1980, the play also explores themes of femininity and beauty.
Russell Norris plays Delmount, Carnelle's older cousin who has just been released from an asylum. Norris says he and his character are quite different in many respects, but they are both people at a crossroads, learning all they can before they move forward.
"This process is the perfect culminating experience," Norris says.
"We're all going out into the professional world so soon, and we're all in it together. It's really bringing us together as a cast, and we all have a similar goal to learn as much as we can in this last opportunity, and soak in the experience."
Norris's castmate Julia Garber, who plays Carnelle, agrees. But she also points out that, for all the play's complex and dynamic characters, it is also very funny.
"I think the audience is going to laugh really hard," Garber says.
"It's not just a crazy, Southern comedy, but a play that has a lot more depth. I can take a lesson from Carnelle to always stay hopeful and believe in myself."
Performances of "The Miss Firecracker Contest" are Feb. 18-22: Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for LVAIC faculty and staff.
Tickets and information are available at 484-664-3333 and muhlenberg.edu/theatre.
The performance is intended for mature audiences.