By By Lisa Tindell
news editor
Faking one’s death can cause more than legal problems. Proving that point is an entertaining event this weekend as actors and actresses with the Brewton Community Theatre troupe present Mark Twain’s “Is He Dead?”
Under the direction of Everette Price the cast and crew have prepared for many weeks to present the show that has been revived from some of Twain’s lost works.
Price said the actors have handed the script well and have developed the characters they portray.
Mitzi Dixon, BCT board member, said the play is one that is a delight to perform and to witness.
Written in 1898 in Vienna, the recently discovered Mark Twain play focuses on a fictional version of the great French painter Jean-Francois Millet as an impoverished artist in Barbizon, France.
Millet, with the help of his colleagues, stages his death in order to increase the value of his paintings. Combining elements of burlesque, farce, and social satire, the comedy relies on such devices as cross-dressing, mistaken identities, and romantic deceptions to tell its story, which raises questions about fame, greed, and the value of art.
Portraying the painter is Curtis Weaver, who also portrays Daisy Tillou, the “dead” painter’s twin sister.
Other cast members include: C.J. McBride as Agamemnon Bucker; Jimmy Dixon as Hans Von Bismarck; Andrea Alvarado as Marie Leroux; Elizabeth Campbell as Cecil Leroux/The Inspector; Dick McEwan as Papa Leroux; Steve Billy as Bastien Andre; Jo Downing as Madam Bathilde; Monica McBride as Madame Caron; Dave Jordan as Phelim O’Shaughnesy; Allen Rigby as Basil Thorpe/Claude Riviere/Charlie; and Bruce Long as The King of France. Hermine Downing is assisting with directing duties for the presentation.
The show will be presented in three performances at the Woodfin-Patterson Auditorium on the campus of Jefferson Davis Community College on Alco Drive.
The first curtain will rise at 7 p.m. Friday night with a second show Saturday night at 7 p.m. A Sunday matinee will be performed at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students. Tickets are available from any member of the cast or the Brewton Community Theatre and will be available at the door.
For additional information about the upcoming presentation or The Brewton Community Theatre, visit the group’s Web site at www.brewtoncommunitytheatre.org.