Staff report

MIDDLESBORO — The Middlesboro Little Theatre will present for its Fall production Dearly Beloved , a comedy about a wedding ceremony and all the joys and headaches that go into planning (and participating in) a wedding.

Tryout dates are at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20 and Friday, Sept. 21 at the Downtown Gallery for the Arts, 129 South 20th Street, Middlesboro (across from the Middlesboro Library).

“Dearly Beloved,” written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, is the second part of a trilogy of Texas comedies that begins with “Christmas Belles” and ends with “Dearly Departed,” the latter of which was a popular past success by Middlesboro Little Theatre.

“Dearly Beloved” tells the story of the Futrelle sisters — Frankie, Honey Raye and Twink — who are in the process of planning a wedding. Frankie has almost made herself sick with elaborate preparations for her daughter Tina Jo’s antebellum-inspired wedding, and the rumor mill in their small town of Fayro, Texas, is working overtime.

No surprise there, as the Futrelle Sisters have never been strangers to gossip. After all, they did survive the scandalous breakup of their almost-famous gospel singing trio, The Sermonettes.

But Twink’s desperate attempts to get her boyfriend of 15 1/2 years down the aisle, Frankie’s ongoing conversations with their dead mother, and Honey Raye’s tendency to race to the altar at every opportunity have kept tongues wagging for years.

In spite of her own marital problems, Frankie has held steadfastly to the hope that she can pull off one final Futrelle occasion with elegance and style with the help of the cantankerous wedding coordinator, Miss Geneva, who runs the local floral shop/bus depot.

But on the day of the nuptials, Frankie’s hope begins to dim when she discovers Twink’s alternative solution to an expensive catered wedding dinner is a potluck supper sponsored by Clovis Sanford’s House of Meat.

When the prodigal Honey Raye arrives at the church in skintight gold lam/, consumed by hot flashes and a steely determination to right old family wrongs, Frankie’s hope is shaken. It is lost completely when word reaches the church that Tina Jo and her fianc/ have fled Fayro and eloped.

The sisters ultimately pull together to find ways to keep the unsuspecting guests in the pews while a highway patrolman races off to track down the runaway bride and groom. As a last resort, and to the delight of the citizenry of Fayro, Texas, The Sermonettes reunite and sing again. The play has parts for seven women and four men. Also encouraged to attend the tryouts are people interested in being stage hands, makeup artists, stage construction workers, box office helpers and advertising representatives.

For more information, contact Judy Cox at 248-3748, Angela Weaver at 269-1434, Robert Cox at 248-3639 or Ken Maciula at 248-6352.