plays from the li'l nashville

‘plays from the li’l nashville’ shines

Jim Cavener

Local playwright Waylon Wood has a splendid script in his “plays from the li’l nashville,” now in performance by Run Amok Productions at N.C. Stage Company. It’s an incisive and well-crafted bit of writing, and the production excels in most every way.

This is not theater for wimps. But folks who want their theater challenging should see it.

But leave the children at home. And only very worldly grandmas will likely appreciate the earthy and often sexual nature in this trip to Florida’s underbelly.

Dope, drinking, drugs, debauchery and dirty-talk are the nature of the beast.

“plays from the li’l nashville” was written as a set of five short one-acts, all taking place in a backwoods roadhouse bar (the Li’l Nashville), patronized by the rural culture of far northwest Florida.

Playwright Wood later created a patchwork, full-length script by merging these various tales of pathos and poignancy to the tunes of Patsy Cline.

This is truly a motley crew, with a couple of singles and random clusters of pairs and threesomes from the local scene, all hooking up in strange configurations.

There’s lots of carnality, cussin’ and drinkin’ and searching for “good times.” Wood knows the language and the issues that permeate this culture. And a sad lot of circumstances they are.

Director Betsy Puckett creates an ensemble tribe of 13 able actors.

To name and describe all the colorful characters is impossible.

But there are stellar roles by Carla Pridgen, Zach Blew, Delina Hensley, Peter Brezny, Sarah Carpenter and David Ely. Anthony Abraira and Cory Boughton have lesser, but effective roles.

Scott Bunn has compiled a fine musical score of country classics, which belt from the jukebox in this honky-tonk setting.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.