Barter Theatre Opens SOUTHERN FRIED FUNERAL, 5/30

"Bless their hearts," writes Broadway World, "J. Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler have scored a bonafide hit with 'Southern Fried Funeral.'" Barter Theatre will open the comedy on May 30 on Barter's main stage.

"Funerals bring out the worst, the best and the funniest in people and the Frye family is no exception. A big-hearted comedy about family-Southern Style," according to playwrights Osborne and Eppler.

When Dewey Frye drops dead in the middle of a joke to the Rotarians during their dinner meeting, his wife, Dorothy (Tricia Matthews) is faced with dealing with funeral arrangements, the realities of widowhood and a crazy assemblage of family and townspeople.

Dorothy now must manage the daughter who decided to focus on family (Holly Williams) and the daughter who decided to focus on having a good time (Erin Parker), and they will not quit picking at one another. Then there's her son, Dewey, Jr., a.k.a. "Dewdrop," who is not quite right (Sam McCalla). A victory for him is not putting his fingers in the blender.

We can't forget Ozella Meeks (played by the one and only Mary Lucy Bivins!). Ms. Ozella is from the Sonshine Committee at the church, and she's the resident know-it-all, busy body obsessing over the color of the punch and the napkins at the funeral and, of course, driving them all crazy.

Despite the trying circumstances, Dorothy would be holding it together were it not for Dewey's brother (played by Michael Poisson) swooping in like a vulture. In this case the vulture wants Dorothy's land and he's doing anything he can to make that happen.

Director Eugene Wolf believes that people's behavior gets juiced up just a bit when a family member dies. Old grudges and jealousies come up, and something happens that allows these things to finally be released.

"When my Grandmother passed away my Aunt Dot punched my poster of Barbara Streisand in the nose! It left a big hole in the sheetrock. I had never known she secretly hated Barbara!" said Wolf.

"Southern Fried Funeral" is made possible by corporate sponsor The United Company and media sponsors WKPT-TV and Kingsport Times News.

Barter Theatre is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

For tickets and more information, visit www.BarterTheatre.com or call 276.628.3991.

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