The Eunice Players’ Theatre will open its 50th season with “Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got The Will?” on March 27.
Eunice Players’ Theatre may be the longest continually running community theater in the state, Jody Powell, a theater board member and its historian, said.
“We are very, very proud to have been here for this long and especially in a community of this size,” Powell said.
“We are only 10,000-ish people, but we have managed to have provided consistent seasons,” she said.
“We have had 50 years of three shows per season and most years ... we have done something in the summer, which is a non-season show,” Powell said.
The 50th season opener is a revival of a play that first ran in 1993 when the theater was in its 24th season, she said. The play won that year’s Best Play at the annual Irving Awards.
All of the shows this season will be revivals of previous productions. The other season shows planned are “Crimes of the Heart” and “Noises Off.” A summer musical, “Godspell”, also is scheduled.
Powell remembers when the Irving Awards was the social event of the year in Eunice and drew about 700 people.
The community support for the theater continues, she said.
“We have not done it on grants. We have not done it on large corporate donations. It has been the grassroots effort of the Eunice community that has sustained us,” Powell said.
The support is shown through ticket sales and the volunteers who perform and work behind the scenes at productions. But it is also the community willing to loan props for shows, she said.
Productions take about five weeks of rehearsals, which end with about eight performances in the theater that seats 100.
Most summers the theater stages a musical or children’s production.
The upcoming play, “Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got The Will?”, is a two-act comedy by Del Shores.
The story centers on the Turnover family from a small town in Texas who have reunited to support their ailing father and, more specifically, to find out the contents of his will. With boyfriends, fiancés and significant others in tow, the four siblings are not-so-patiently waiting to hear who will inherit what. The only problem is that Daddy seems to have lost the will. Despite the somber tone, the show is filled with funny and tender moments, and characters you care about.
The play is directed by Jimmy Broussard, who, in his other life, is Crowley Police Chief.
Starring as crazier-than-a-bedbug patriarch, Buford “Daddy” Turnover, is Brett Faulkner; his feisty mother-in-law, Mama Wheelis is portrayed by Suzanne LaHaye. Daddy’s children include Sara Lee, single and still living at home, played by Amy Rider; Lurlene, a preacher’s wife, played by Gabrielle Reed; Evalita, who’s been married six times, played by Jordan Conner; and Orville, an abusive and unhappy man, played by Gabe Ortego. Rounding out the cast are Caleb Delafosse, as Harmony Rhodes, Evalita’s current offbeat musician boyfriend, and Sandrez West as Marlene, Orville’s long-suffering wife.
Performances will be held with curtain time at 7 p.m. March 27 to 30 and April 3 to 5. A matinee will be held at 2 p.m. April 7.
In commemoration of this milestone anniversary season, a special patron appreciation event will be held at 6 on opening night, during which complimentary wine and cheese will be served.
All seats are $15. Tickets can be purchased at Beaucoup. 114 S. 2nd St., or by calling 337-550-4727 to charge by phone. Visa and MasterCard are accepted for advance sales but not at the door. Season ticket holders should call the phone number on their season ticket to make reservations.
Season tickets are available from any board member or at Beaucoup. The season ticket is $30, which allows the bearer entrance to the three season shows, the ability to make seating reservations, an invitation to the Irving Awards, and a ballot for the awards. Patron and angel packages are also available.
The theatre is located at 121 S. 2nd St. in Eunice.
Board members are: David Manuel, president; Gabe Ortego, vice president; Lise Richard, treasurer; Denise Fuselier, secretary; Jody L. Powell, historian; Brett Faulkner, executive member; Ching Wasmuth; Dr. Kevin Miller; Kristi Burleigh; Bonnie Kyzar; Amy Rider; Angie McBride; Jimmy Broussard; Annette Harrington; and Sharon Blankenship.
More information can be found on EPT’s Facebook page.
