Lori Klickman, Alex Hart, Pam Leptich sing a traditional gospel song.
“Saturday Night at Old Smokey,” a simple story of family and tradition, opens January 11 and runs through January 26 at The Playmakers, 121 W. 3rd St, in Grove, Ok. Presented in collaboration with Arvest Bank, with assistance by the Oklahoma Arts Council, and in cooperation with Samuel French, Inc., this comedy with music will be performed on Fridays, Saturdays & Tuesdays at 7:30, and Sunday matinees at 2:00.
Olive & Jinks were best of friends as long as they could remember. They began singing at school functions. They called themselves the “Mountain Mamas” and even became famous, at least in the hills of east Tennessee. Then life got in the way, the duo quit singing together and now they just enjoy bickering with each other. Emma, their hairdresser, owns an old country store, which, in its heyday was the scene of Saturday night musical jamborees that rivaled the Grand Ole Opry. She’s trying to re-open Old Smokey for her son, Teddy, who will need a quiet place to recuperate after being injured in Afghanistan. Olive’s daughter, Cordelia, is Teddy’s fiancé. She has just started her own radio program on the small station in the area.
All is moving along until a stranger enters the scene. Howard, a real con-man, wants the store for his own purposes. He’s accompanied by Tammy, a truck-stop waitress who truly believes that Howard is her path to fame and fortune. Then the County tax office decides that the taxes must be paid sooner than Emma expected. So Plan A becomes Plan B, with Cordelia broadcasting a radio program from the store in the tradition of the earlier jamborees. Then a big storm wreaks havoc on Plan B, but when the electricity comes back on, and Howard’s con game is exposed, the final scene become a cross between a musical jamboree and a revival, with lots of gospel music, testimonials and a call for the help needed to revive Old Smokey.
And, laughs, did we mention all the laughs along the way? With Pam Leptich as Olive and Lori Klickman as Jinks you can bet there are lots of laughs. Emma (Karon Wheat) and Cordelia (Alex Hart, one of Grove’s Grand Talent youth winners) try to keep Olive & Jinks from coming to blows while cleaning the old store. McKalee Steen delights as the clueless Tammy, and Randall Hendricks seems to have some insider knowledge on how to acquire property, not always of the land variety.
Reservations may be made online at www.groveplaymakers.com, or by calling 918-786-8950 or by emailing groveplaymakers@yahoo.com. Adult tickets are $15; Students, Elementary through high school, $8.