Gaslight Presents The Miss Firecracker Contest June 8-July 1

Release Date: 5/11/2006. Expired: 7/1/2006

Carnelle Scott believes winning the local beauty pageant is her only opportunity to leave her small, Southern hometown “in a blaze of glory.” But her efforts to secure the Miss Firecracker title are complicated by the fact that she isn’t cut from the beauty pageant mold, she has to overcome her reputation and the arrival of her cousins: a former pageant winner and a recently released mental patient.

Carnelle’s quest for a better life provides the laughs in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre’s production of The Miss Firecracker Contest June 8-July 1 at The Renaissance Center in Dickson. Performances are 6:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays with senior matinees at 12 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. Tickets are $27 and include a buffet dinner, drink, dessert and the performance. Matinee tickets are $17 for patrons 55 and older and include a buffet lunch, drink, dessert and the performance.

The Miss Firecracker Contest was written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Beth Henley and ran Off-Broadway. The play starred Holly Hunter as Carnelle. Henley also wrote the screenplay for Miss Firecracker, a film version that also starred Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins, Alfre Woodard, Scott Glenn and Ann Wedgeworth in 1989.

The Miss Firecracker pageant on July 4 is Carnelle’s (Amy Scott) dream to escape Brookhaven, Miss., a small Southern town where she feels trapped by her reputation from her wilder days, as well as the wacky relatives and characters who surround her and cause constant emotional strain.

Carnelle’s cousin Elain Rutledge (Sara Schoch) is a former Miss Firecracker pageant winner whose life didn’t turn out like she hoped. Elain’s brother Delmount Williams (Ryan Hunt) has recently been released from a mental institution and is pursued by Popeye Jackson (Katherine Jett), a seamstress who makes costumes for bullfrogs.

Throw into the mix Tessy Mahoney (Ayla Harrison), the tarnished Southern belle who talks bad about everyone in town behind their backs, and Mac Sam (Hal Partlow), the local bad boy with charms, and you get a taste of the small-town Southern humor that has become the trademark of Henley’s plays.

The Gaslight Dinner Theatre’s production of The Miss Firecracker Contest is directed by Tracy Nichols of Ashland City, who is helming her first dinner theatre production. Nichols previously directed Little Shop of Horrors and co-directed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for the Renaissance Players while appearing in Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus on The Renaissance Center’s stage and Anything Goes in the Gaslight. An Austin Peay State University graduate with a Master of Arts in Speech and Theatre, she has more than 20 years of theatre experience.

Scott, managing director of the Renaissance Players, is appearing in her 16th Gaslight Dinner Theatre production, with roles in favorites such as Nunsense, The Dining Room, The Honky Tonk Angels, Nuncrackers and Anything Goes. The Robertson County native and resident costumer at The Renaissance Center also has appeared in three Renaissance Players productions and 16 Repertory Theatre Company shows while directing eight productions since joining the center in 2001.

Schoch appeared in the Gaslight Dinner Theatre production of My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra. The Cleveland, Ohio, native has appeared in numerous productions throughout the country, including Hello, Dolly!, The Buddy Holly Story, Assassins and Candide. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from State University of New York at Fredonia.

Hunt returns to The Renaissance Center where he was a member of the Rep Company 2003-05. He previously appeared in Gaslight productions of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, The Dining Room, 8 Track: Sounds of the ‘70s, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, A Christmas Survival Guide, Barefoot in the Park and Run for Your Wife. He appeared in Renaissance Players productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Miracle Worker, which also marked his directorial debut. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville.

Jett is appearing in her fourth Gaslight Dinner Theatre production after roles in Nuncrackers, Anything Goes and Run for Your Wife. The Nashville native has appeared in eight Renaissance Players productions, winning a 2005 Jimmy Award as Best Actress in a Play for A Christmas Carol, and seven shows for the MET series and Young Actors Studio at the center.

Harrison is making her Gaslight Dinner Theatre debut with The Miss Firecracker Contest. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Central Florida’s Conservatory Theatre, where she appeared in productions of Blithe Spirit, The Marriage of Bette and Boo and 5th of July. Other credits include West Side Story, Little Women, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Alice in Wonderland and Driven to Abstraction.

Partlow fills the role of Mac Sam. Partlow, managing director of The Renaissance Center’s Mind Enriching Theatre (MET) series and manager of the Repertory Theatre Company, is appearing in his 12th Gaslight Dinner Theatre production, including roles in favorites like Forever Plaid!, Run for Your Wife, Driving Miss Daisy, The Foreigner and Anything Goes. He has directed nine dinner theatre shows, six Renaissance Players productions and appeared in and/or directed 33 productions for the MET series. A native of upstate New York, Partlow has been performing professionally in theatres across the country for more than 20 years.

For more information on the Gaslight Dinner Theatre’s production of The Miss Firecracker Contest, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets, call (615)740-5570 or toll-free (888)700-2300.

The Renaissance Center is a fine 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.

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