A Bewitching Southern Comedy in Two Acts.  1 M / 6 F

 

  In Kosciusko, Mississippi, there is only one avenue to the top of small-town society: membership in the City Garden Club, where the elite meet.  But when one is turned away, for various reasons, by the City Club, there is another option:  The Attala County Garden Club.  The County Club has very stringent guidelines, and isn't for the faint of heart.  Young homemaker ROSE CHIPLEY, the daughter of the City Club president, believes she is up for the challenge.  

  Rose doesn't realize that she has unknowingly joined a coven of witches, hell-bent on avenging their reputations against the town that shunned them.  As the high priestess, BETTYE LITTLE-LANDRUM ensnares women and slowly introduces them to ritual and spells, and by the time all is revealed, the women have experienced power and control for the first time in their lives, and they stay. But Club Treasurer DANITA DIXON has been waiting for an ally, someone to help her fight off the forces of the coven.

  Together, Rose and Danita, under the tutelage of JOLENE GLADNEY, a local hairdresser and closeted Choctaw shaman, develop their talents, leading up to a final showdown with the Attala County Garden Club. Along the way, Rose discovers her own potential, and Danita finds true friendship for the first time.  But when the moment arrives, will an unlikely trio be able to overpower Bettye and her cohorts? 

 

 "When Rose discovers the garden club's more sinister attributes, the airy play builds to effective moments of both horror-flick suspense and kitschy Southern comedy. Rose's wisecracking hairdresser (Patty Siebert) uses a comical, Sunday school-style felt board to lay out some of the folklore backstory." 

- Curt Holman, Creative Loafing

“I don’t want to go into specific details because I don’t want to spoil anything for any future audiences (and the story is unbelievably hard to explain), but there were many very clever and funny ideas within. I will however share one line (not a funny one) which I felt was so achingly correct... The line was spoken about the remnants of racism and how it is allowed to seep into current times with the excuse that “it has always been that way”. When asked if there were any black people in the Kosciusko Mississippi Lion’s Club to which his father belongs, Rose’s husband Michael replies “No, but it’s always been that way”. Rose replies: “Those are old thoughts - for old people.”  Having lived through it, that line perfectly captured the dilemma of the New South."                        

             -Rial Ellsworth, theaterreview.com

READ THE PRESS:

DAVID ATLANTA:  No Pain, No Gain

KOSCIUSKO STAR-HERALD:  Play Has Roots in Kosciusko

CREATIVE LOAFING:  Grace Under Fire
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The Club in Session

Bobbie Elzey (Bettye), Jo Howarth (Alice), Amanda Cucher (Rose), Kellie Fortner (Effie Jo) and Cheryl Rookwood (Danita) in the 2006 World Premiere of The Attala County Garden Club.