Black Box Theatre (BBT) opens its 2023-24 season with “Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music,” by Lee Blessing and directed by BBT co-owner Ceil Herman.
The show opens Friday, Aug. 25, for a three-weekend run.
Senior Amigos line dancers Linda Enriquez, Julia Brogan and Christella Rodriguez will dance prior to the Aug. 25 and 26 performances.
“Filled with colorful characters, the set description calls for an old pickup truck present in the parking lot of a good ole-boy bar,” TTC said in a news release about the play, which is set in Houston. “The pickup truck (this production is using a truck that belongs to BBT co-owner Peter Herman) serves as an additional character in the play and is an important part of the first act.”
“Jim Stool’s (played by Genno Tafoya) rowdy drinking and fighting bar (the title of the play is the new name of the bar) has been renamed and cleaned up by his girlfriend Eva June (Laura Bever),” the news release said. “A year earlier, Eva June and Jim met in Dallas, and she left her Latvian scholar husband and young son and moved to Houston with Jim. Eva June made repaving the parking lot and banning motorcycles the conditions of their relationship. Stool’s sweet but annoying friend, Roy (played by Hunter Camp), has fallen in love instantly with Eva June’s niece, Catherine (Penny Bever), a former nun who is visiting after being dismissed from her convent for using inappropriate language and barking like a dog. Eva June son, Jason (Charlie Bever), is constantly annoying Jim.
Tafoya has been seen in “Radium Girls” and “Animal Tales” at BBT, along with its online streaming production of “American Terminator” and “Karl the Magnificent. “
Camp is a new face to BBT audiences but has been in theatre for more than 10 years, BBT said, starting with a summer workshop with A Children’s Theatre of the Mesilla Valley (ACT) at age 5. He has directed many productions for ACT, the news release said.
Members of the Bever family in “Nice People” also have been involved in local theatre productions with ACT. Penny Bever also performed in “Gypsy” at Las Cruces Community Theatre and in “Radium Girls” and “The Revolutionists” at BBT. Charlie and Benjamin Bever (who contributes to “Nice People” with offstage voices), have worked backstage on BBT productions.
Their mother, Laura Bever, brought the Bevers to BBT’s audition for “Nice People,” and Ceil Herman immediately cast her in the play even though she had never been on stage before.
Blessing (1949- ) has been nominated for a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
Peter Herman designed the set and lights for “Nice People.” Bekah Taulbee and Karen Buerdsell will be the show’s board operators.
Performances of “Nice People” are 8 pm. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 25-26 and Sept. 1-2 and 8-9; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3 and 10; and 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7.
Tickets are $15 regular admission and $12 for students and seniors over age 65. All seats are $10 for the Thursday, Sept. 7, performance.
For reservations, call 575-523-1223. Tickets will also be available at the door before each performance.
Season tickets are $85 regular admission and $70 for students and seniors.
