From the author of Crimes of the Heart, The Miss Firecracker Contest is a Southern Gothic comedy for which Henley is best known. Its heroine, Carnelle, is an irrepressible young woman who thinks that winning the local beauty contest will restore her soiled reputation and make her “somebody” in her small Mississippi community. The family and friends who help her along the way are a dysfunctional bunch who tackle life in their own peculiar ways. A former beauty queen cousin, Elain, comes to offer advice and to run away from her husband and children. Elain’s brother, Delmount, has come home from the mental institution to sell the family home and provide Carnelle another way out. Wandering into the chaos is Carnelle’s seamstress, sweet and strange Popeye, who falls in love with Delmount. The general conclusion these characters reach is this:, even if the real you is not the fulfillment of your hopes, you will be more at peace if you learn to define and accept your own self.
NOTICE
Late seating is at the discretion of the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts House Management and ushering staff. Please ensure cell phones and smartwatches are set to silent or theater mode. Photography and videography are strictly prohibited under copyright law and may result in removal from the performance.
Performing Arts Staff
Jerry Goehring............... Executive Director for Performing Arts
Justin Zenchuk............... Director of Theatre
Allegra Pin............... Director of Performing Arts Recruitment & Retention
Elle Smith............... Assistant Director of Performing Arts Recruitment & Retention
Chris D'Amato............... Director of Production
Conrad Cluck............... Director of Technical & Digital Theatre
Erin Marcel............... Asst. Director of Performing Arts Operations
Christopher Conte............... Graduate Asst. for Theatre Arts