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Classic Tale: Relatable Characters & Plot

Posted on Friday, October 27, 2023 at 10:32 am

TRACY HARRIS
Staff Writer

“It’s about finding peace…peace with other people, finding peace with the past, and finding peace with yourself,” Carter Corker said. Corker is bringing the film “A Trip to Bountiful” to life as a play at the Marshall County Community Theater (MCCT) in November.
There are three main characters: a mother, her son, and her daughter-in-law. Miss Watts makes peace with herself as she faces the end of her life. Ludie Watts struggles to make peace with his past. Jessie Mae, a feisty character with a southern drawl makes peace with others. The cast is small, made up only 8 actors with lines, but everyone is local and excited for this inspiring classic tale.
Jessica Newton is the Director. This is her first time directing after being backstage, on stage, and a stage manager. She was supposed to be stage manager for Bountiful, but there was a need for a director so she stepped up. Jessica said, “It’s a small cast with veteran actors so they kind of direct themselves.” The hardest part for her has been “figuring out what I’m supposed to be doing as a director and giving them the right feedback.” She explained, “We’ve done a lot of talking about their characters and what their character’s personality is like. Helping them find their character within themselves has been challenging but also really rewarding.”
Sherry Gallagher plays Miss Watts. Watts has lived in Mooresville for 30 years and is no stranger to the stage. She usually does comedy and improv and works with the Studio Players in Columbia. This is her first time taking a lead role but after watching the original film she was pretty sure she could take this on. The character resonates with her. She is grateful for Crocker who “really took a chance on someone who he didn’t know anything about. He came to see me when we did the Golden Girls at the Studio Players and that was after he said yes. That means more than anything. He said ‘girl you’ve got it’ and he has a lot of faith in my ability and that means a lot.” Gallagher has family and friends coming and says it’s a lot of pressure but she looks forward to bowing at the end of the show and knowing that she did it and did it well. She said, “It’s about people seeing me as more than comedy or improv; I’m deeper than that. I can go deeper than being silly and making them laugh. While I do that well, I’m really looking forward to this.”
Evan Dumser has been on the MCCT stage since he was seven years old. He plays Ludie Watts but this role is much different than what he usually does. It is a straight play – a production with no music, no dancing, just script. Nick Phillips and Allison Mulliniks told Dumser about Corker so he looked him up online. “My jaw hit the floor when I realized he was calling me for a role! I was like, I’m in, no matter what it is. Don’t matter if it’s a janitor pushing a broom across the floor, I’ll be the best janitor on stage,” he said. He really wanted to do the role of Ludie. Dumser is used to musical and loves them. But he said, “My drive comes from the drama. I think it shows true talent when you’re able to take lines on a page, put them into a character, and make that portray something to the audience that they can feel.”
Dumser described his character as a tortured soul that is caught between the two most important women in his life, his mother and wife. The character moves from very low points in his life to very high points. Dumser said, “I think it’s very relatable because a lot of things go unsaid that everyone deals with in their daily life: financial issues, health problems, family, social issues, work. Every aspect of the character is dealing with the unspoken which is what we all deal with in everyday life.”
Jessie Mae is played by Kristina Enlow. This is Enlow’s second production with MCCT. She taught theater in Antioch at Lighthouse Christian School before she left Nashville. She and her husband, along with their two children ages 1 and 3, purchased a home here almost three years ago. Jessie Mae’s character challenged her to “dust those shoes off and challenge myself’” she said. Enlow explained, “For me, music and dance come so naturally but there’s no music in this. I don’t have trouble memorizing the lines, it’s the flow of it, which chunks of lines come next-that’s been my biggest struggle.”
Enlow said, “I think there’s going to be something for everybody. I think anything like this that’s relatable to every single person-in some way-is so powerful.” Enlow added, “This is a very quiet kind of play. There’s no flashy lights, no musical dance numbers. The power of it comes from the quiet moments in life. You’ll see us on stage doing mundane tasks in life that are relatable, like getting coffee, reading a newspaper. It just brings the audience into this world.”
Lillie Newton plays Thelma, a friend to Miss Watts. Newton is 18 years old and has literally grown up on this stage. “Getting out of the musicals and back into a straight play has been a little tough,” she said. Lillie has not done a straight play since she was seven. Lillie said, “One of my personal favorite parts is when we get to Harrison Bust Station. That’s when [Thelma] becomes like a mother. She doesn’t treat Miss Watts like a child, but she helps her, makes sure she get where she needs to go. She wants to make sure [Miss Watts] doesn’t have to worry anymore.”
The play will be at the Marshall County Community Theater on the Lewisburg Square. Tickets are $15 each. Performances are at 7:00 p.m. on Nov. 3 & Nov. 4 and at 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 5. Tickets are available at the box office one hour before showtime. Tickets are available now online at mcct.ticketleap.com/bountiful.