Common Ground Theatre sets off Firecracker

In the small town of Brookhaven, Mississippi, orphan Carnelle Scott dreams of being crowned Miss Firecracker in her town's Independence Day beauty pageant.

Add Carnelle's odd-ball costume designer and crazed cousins and what follows is The Miss Firecracker Contest, a frank and comical look at small-town life in Mississippi.

Beth Henley, the Pulitzer-prize winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart, wrote Miss Firecracker in the 1980s. And in its 23-year history, it still manages to engage and entertain, which is why local theater group Ghost & Spice Productions chose this show to perform at Durham's Common Ground Theatre.

Miss Firecracker consist of two acts. The first act focuses on Carnelle's entry into the beauty pageant world and the second on the backstage events of the pageant. The actual beauty pageant is never a part of the play, which focuses the audience's attention onto the dynamics of the characters, especially the family members.

The emphasis on character, as well as the small six-member cast, fit into Ghost & Spice's mission. Ghost & Spice's Managing Director Rachel Klem, also the director of the Common Ground Theatre, is directing Miss Firecracker.

"We have six in this play, which is a lot for us. We usually only have two or three actors," Klem said. "It gives our actors something to really sink their teeth into. We think of ourselves as an acting company so there's really no small parts."

Klem added that she has a personal preference toward small casts.

"You get to focus on characters and their relationships and a lot of really good acting techniques," she said.

With a capacity of just over 50 people, the Common Ground Theatre gives the audience a more intimate experience.

"One of the nice things about Common Ground is... people get a really up-close perspective," Klem said. "It's really interesting to be ten feet from the actors."

Klem said the play was chosen democratically by Ghost & Spice's nine board members. As a group, they read over the play and found the it's comedy perfect for the production company. When the scheduling came around, the play unexpectedly landed into Klem's lap.

Although directing the play came as a surprise to Klem, it is one she has enjoyed because of the play's unique mix of physical action, comedy and rich characters.

Miss Firecracker, like works by Tennessee Williams and Harper Lee, is often characterized as Southern Gothic, and Klem also notes Henley's reliance on what she calls a "southern mythology." Klem said that the play includes some racist remarks that are delivered casually, though they are not meant to be causal. She said these elements are just a part of the southern experience.

"The mythology of the South-the heat, the actions, the situations-it becomes certain things we identify as Southern," Klem said.

With the small venue and "larger than life characters," The Miss Firecracker Contest offers audiences an entertaining and up-close look at the ways of the South.

The Miss Firecracker Contest will run at Common Ground Theatre on Hillsborough Road on Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20 at 8 p.m. with a special Sunday matinee Oct. 14 at 2 p.m.

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