There is always something great about comedies built around southern women of a certain age shaking things up. From classics like Steel Magnolias to Fried Green Tomatoes, Hollywood and Broadway stages, some of America’s best playwrights have found it irresistible not to use these wise and sometimes eccentric characters only found below the Mason-Dixon line, which is predictably followed by great box-office success.
Another example of this phenomenon can be found starting next weekend when Tred Avon Players will be presenting The Hallelujah Girls, a comedy written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten and directed by Sammie Adams-Mercer. It runs August 15 – 25 at the Oxford Community Center.
The Hallelujah Girls is a delightful and heartwarming comedy that follows the story of a group of women in Eden Falls, Georgia, who decide to shake up their lives and pursue their dreams after the loss of a dear friend. Led by the vivacious Sugar Lee Thompkins, they transform an abandoned church into a day spa, the “Spa-Dee-Dah.” Amidst the laughter and camaraderie, the women confront their pasts, embrace their futures, and discover the rejuvenating power of friendship and self-reinvention.
The talented cast includes new and returning actors to the TAP stage: Victoria Willits (Sugar Lee Thompkins), Lynn Sanchez (Carlene Travis), Katy Petty (Crystal Hart), Lisa Roth (Mavis Flowers), Sharon Gilroy (Nita Monney), Maureen Curtin (Bunny Sutherland), Dean Goodwin (Bobby Dwayne Dillahunt), and Rob Sanchez (Porter Padgett).
The Spy sat down with Sammie and Sharon Gilroy, who plays Nita Monney, for a preview.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information and to purchase tickets, please go here.
