This is a week of finishing touches at the SEMO Little Theater in Kennett, as it ramps up for its Friday and Saturday night performances of the Neil Simon hit comedy, "Plaza Suite." The productions are part of this weekend's Fall Into Arts Festival in downtown Kennett.
No stranger to pre-curtain jitters, the theater knew what it was doing, when it put the play into the hands of first-time director, Bill Jones. Jones has been a theater member since the age of eight, and he has performed in many SEMO Little Theater productions.
Door will open at 7 p.m. for the Friday and Saturday night shows. This year's production replaces the dramas that have been staged inside the courtroom of the Dunklin County Courthouse the past couple of years. But that isn't the only thing new about this year's effort. It will also be combined with a one-act play for children, "Superhero Support Group," directed by Jones' wife of three years, Marilyn. Mrs. Jones is the theater's corresponding secretary and has also acted in past SEMO productions.
The youth performance was a bit of a surprise delight for the theater because, once the "Plaza Suite" auditions came around in late July, more teenaged actors than adults showed up. Mrs. Jones attributes that "theater bug" to the drama camp she and her husband conducted at the theater in June. To accommodate the turn-out, the Joneses sought an appropriate production and found one, by playwright D.M. Larson, about a group of superheroes who visit the doctor, after having a bad day, and discover the physician has mysteriously taken away all their powers.
The play will star five Kennett students: Jacob Deck, 16; Meg Mobley, 12; Molly McClain, 12; Ray Solijon, 14; and Chloe Morrison, 14; and one Hornersville, Mo., student, Kimberly Westmorelan (14).
The "Plaza Suite" performance will follow the youth play and feature Acts II and III of the well-known stage hit, starring Kennett residents Doug and Staci Cripe, Jennifer Eastham and Chris Kaiser. The evening's playbill lists "a series of three, one-act plays." The shows are free and open to the public.
Both casts have been rehearsing since early August, with the youth working Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 3-5 p.m., and the adults, virtually every evening, from 6:30-8 p.m. Technical and dress rehearsals will be staged tomorrow and Thursday, but are not open to the public.The production crew includes long-time theater members, Matt Jackson, on lights, and Joe Keene, on sound.
The Fall Into Arts Festival begins Friday, and runs through Sunday, on and around the downtown Kennett Courthouse Square. For festival details, visit the website of the event's founding organization, the Kennett Alliance for the Arts (KAFTA), at www.kafta.org.