Pre-show food, entertainment add to fun of Renaissance Players’ Faith County
Release Date: 5/10/2005. Expired: 5/29/2005
The sights, smells, tastes and sounds of the county fair come alive when the Renaissance Players present the hilarious comedy Faith County May 13-29 at The Renaissance Center in Dickson.
In addition to the riotous cast of characters and laugh-packed production, each show will include live entertainment and county fair fare such as popcorn, cotton candy and sno-cones prior to the show and during intermission.
“We want to create an all-encompassing theatre experience that will actually take you inside the fun we all associate with memories of county fairs,” said Amy Scott, managing director of the Renaissance Players and director of Faith County. “There will be live music and entertainment before and during each show and a selection of refreshments and food that we enjoy each year at the fair.”
Beginning 30 minutes prior to each performance, there will be entertainment ranging from bands and musicians to dancers in the rotunda of The Renaissance Center as well as various concessions. The entertainment and food return during the show’s 30-minute intermission.
Faith County will be presented at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, May 13-14, 20-21 and 27-28 and at 2 p.m. Sundays, May 15, 22 and 29, with different entertainment lineups before each show and during intermission. Show tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7 for children 12 and under.
There also will be a special lunch matinee performance on Saturday, May 21, with a lunch buffet served at 12 p.m. followed by the show at 1 p.m. Lunch matinee tickets are $17 for the buffet and show or $10 for the show only.
For the opening night reception on Friday, May 13, all the pre-show and intermission concessions will be free and entertainment will be provided by 3 of a Kind, a Fairview-based bluegrass band featuring Terri Lee and Jeff and Carol Wynn.
Formerly members of the Little Bitty Band, the Wynns have teamed with Lee to present acoustic bluegrass music featuring original and traditional sounds. Carol Wynn is a veteran singer who is blessed with the power for lead vocals as well as smooth delivery for harmonies. She and Jeff have opened for bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent and appeared on regional television shows and the Opry Star Spotlight.
Entertainment for the May 21 lunch matinee is Dutch Danker who has been playing harmonica for more than 60 years.
“We’ve enhanced an already highly entertaining theatre production with music and food to create the whole county fair experience,” said Scott. “Together it creates a fun and family friendly evening like no other.”
The pre-show and intermission entertainment lineup tentatively includes:
- May 13 - 3 of a Kind
- May 14 - 2-time national champion harmonica player Glenn “Wailin’ Wood’ Woodland
- May 15 - Onyx Clogging team with soloists Dalton Akins and Kelsey Regan; The Little Pearls clogging team at intermission
- May 20 - Pete Wasner (pianist for Vince Gill) and family
- May 21 - Harmonica player Dutch Danker at both the matinee and evening performances
- May 22 - Clint Durgin and guests
- May 27 - Dickson Bluegrass
- May 28 - Clint Durgin and guests
- May 29 - Onyx Clogging team with soloists Dalton Akins and Kelsey Regen; The Little Pearls clogging team at intermission.
In Mineola, a small town located “somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the South,” a colorful collection of good ol’ country folk gather at the Faith County Fairgrounds for this year’s county fair. In a place where beehive hairdos are still the rage and Saturday nights are reserved for the tractor pulls, there’s still competition in the arts and crafts category and plenty of gossip to be found at the lemonade stand run by the ladies of the church.
Written by Mark Landon Smith, Faith County debuted in 1991 as a radio play and enjoyed a 35-week run on WLYX and was even featured on NBC’s Dateline.
“Faith County is a hilarious look at life in a small town in the South,” said Scott. “Many people will see someone they know well in some of these characters and, while some of their quirks might seem outlandish, you’ll be nudging the person in the seat next to you with a knowing wink that says, ‘You know who that is just like.’”
The nine-member cast includes newcomers and familiar faces to Renaissance Players productions from all over Middle Tennessee, including residents of Dickson, Charlotte, White Bluff, Fairview, Clarksville, Bon Aqua, Bellevue and Ashland City.
Beth Burch of Bellevue plays bossy busybody Mildred Carson. Burch is in her 14th production at The Renaissance Center and won a Best Actress in a Musical Award for portraying Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun.
An assistant district attorney with the 23rd Judicial District, Carey Thompson is in his 10th Renaissance Players production and plays Luther Carson, Mildred’s brother and a mechanic at the Lube N Tube.
After playing Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and an appearance in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre production of Run for Your Wife, Indiana native Anna Hammonds returns to the Renaissance Players as flirtatious Faye McFaye, who fancies herself the next great poetess.
In her first Renaissance Players production, Teresa Hodge of Fairview portrays Naomi Farkle, a hairstylist still holding on to the glory of winning the elementary school spelling bee.
Bon Aqua’s Tina Romine fills the part of Ruthann Barns, an uptight preacher’s wife. Romine is a freelance writer who previously appeared on The Renaissance Center stage in A Christmas Carol and South Pacific.
Yvonne Smith of Ashland City recently appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast as Babette and Jesus Christ Superstar as Simon Zealotes. For Faith County, Smith plays Violet Farkle, a young, innocent and extremely pregnant country girl.
White Bluff’s Timothy Southerland plays pig farmer Delbert Fink, the object of Faye McFaye’s affection. Southerland previously appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Harvey and Arsenic and Old Lace.
Clarksville resident Linda Rhea Thompson plays Gladys Pimbleton, the mayor’s wife who drinks too much, in her first Renaissance Players production.
Renaissance Players veteran Tom Whiting of Charlotte is a two-time Jimmy Award winner, including Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. In his 12th Renaissance Players production, Whiting plays Bubba Bedford, owner of Bubba’s Gas N Go and a velvet painting museum.
For more information on the Renaissance Players production of Faith County, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets for a performance, call (615)740-5570.
The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.
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