Laurel Little Theatre Presents DOUBLEWIDE, TEXAS

Laurel Little Theatre opens its "60th Sensational Season" with the Southern comedy, "DOUBLEWIDE, TEXAS." It runs over two weekends for six performances. Evenings are January 22-23 & 29-30 at 730pm, and on Sundays, January 24 & 31, the matinees are at 2pm.

The LLT reservation line is now open and answers 24 hours a day at 601.428.0140.

Keeping safety in mind as a top priority for the LLT audiences and volunteers, extra precautions this year include: limited audiences under 50% capacity with marked off rows and an empty seat between each couple/family, masks (LLT asks that you "bring your own, please!") and distancing required, no admittance with visible illness/coughs/sneezing, temperature checks at the door and hydrostatic disinfectant cleaning of the theatre before each performance.

LLT presents a Southern comedy each season, and they have a 'doooozy' for their audiences this month. A much-needed couple of hours of belly laughs should hit the spot now just right!

The story? The residents of the smallest trailer park in Texas - just four doublewides - are thrown for a loop when they find out their nearby town is going to annex them. They decide they should just go on and secede from the state of Texas!

The show is appropriate for all ages, but is really for adults and older students. Everyone, regardless of age, must have their own ticket.

Frankie Bennett directs - she's been in many LLT productions, well remembered as Morticia Addams in "ADDAMS FAMILY" and the Wicked Witch in "WIZARD OF OZ, " as well as "DIXIE SWIM CLUB," "JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT" and "HAIRSPRAY." She has directed over a dozen productions for LLT.

Her cast includes LLT alumni plus some newcomers.

Beau Blackledge was in LLT's "ADDAMS FAMILY" as Lurch, and was the Beast in "BEAUTY & THE BEAST. Christy Liverett, a professor at William Carey, has appeared on the Arabian stage since her first production in the 1980s, and was recently in the Neil Simon "BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS" and "BROADWAY BOUND" comedies.

Rick Bennett has been in many LLT shows, including "ADDAMS FAMILY' as Gomez. He's with Fail Telecommunications in Bay Springs. Retired educator Randy Cooley is making his second appearance with LLT - audiences will recognize him from the Sleepy Sam's Mattress Club TV commercials.

Catherine Nowicki is well-known to Laurel audiences for her dozens of roles, but most especially as Louise in "ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE" and Miss Hannigan in "ANNIE." She's a professional Actor's Equity member and has also appeared in nine movies.

Breanne Dalton is a USM graduate now working on her Master's in speech language pathology. She's from Ocean Springs and is making her LLT debut. Paula Pierce is a long-time professor of visual art at Jones College. She played the lead in LLT's "A STREETCAR NAME DESIRE" as Blanche DuBois.

Stacy Ruth is an instructor at Jones College where she's been for the last 28 years. She appeared in several of the LLT Southern comedies over the years.

Angela Watkins is a retired USPS postmaster from out in the Ovett/Petal/Runnelstown area. She's been in dozens of productions with LLT, Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera and Just Over The Rainbow Theatre.

Supporting roles are cast with Jackson Ray Corley, a junior at Richton High School; Sherri Davis, a speech language pathologist at South Central; Herb Murray, who works with the District Attorney's office and Lexie Ruth, an honor student at Laurel Christian School.

Stage manager for "DOUBLEWIDE" is Mary Beth Griffin from Petal. She's done theatre in Hattiesburg for many years and just started with LLT this past season.

LLT's crews includes dozens of local volunteers from all over the area counties.

Single tickets are available, but the best deal is a 4-punch LLT season ticket that saves up to 28% off the single ticket price.

Just call in a reservation and then the ticket purchase is completed at the door.

For information on season tickets or any other questions, you can mail LLTLaurelMS@aol.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.