Driving two Daisys

The River City Players are getting ambitious with the second show in their current "revival" season, "Driving Miss Daisy."

The Players last produced "Daisy" in 2001, and this time around they've expanded their show dates from the usual five to eight, employing two women to play the part of Daisy.

"When this was done in 2001, they sold out every production and had to turn people away," said Debbie Barnhouse, director of the current "Miss Daisy" and assistant director of the 2001 version. Barnhouse said the idea of more dates was proposed, and when the Players took the proposal to Dennis "Doc" Cain, owner of the Players' venue at Port Cape Girardeau, he was all for it. They even added a Mother's Day dessert and drink matinee.

Six years ago the production not only sold out, but took every one of the Players' annual awards. This time around, cast and crew are hoping for even more.

"I expect this to be a lot better," said Lloyd Williams, longtime Player who's revising his role as Daisy's driver, Hoke Colburn.

The extra shows mean extra work for the small ensemble cast (only three characters appear in the play), creating the need for two Daisys to ease the load, Barnhouse said.

Taking on the role of Miss Daisy will be Martha Lee, a 66-year-old recent Texas transplant -- with Texas accent -- experienced in community theater and a newcomer to RCP, and Claudette Hency, making her return to RCP after a few years' hiatus. Barnhouse said she cast Lee because she's a Jessica Tandy look-a-like, while Hency was cast for her acting ability alone (and maybe for her skills as a cast cut-up).

"I've been wanting to be in community theater since I've been here, but this is the first time something came along in my age bracket," Lee joked.

Lee said she has no jitters about "Daisy" -- a play expected to draw big crowds -- being her first performance on the RCP stage.

"That's good, that's the way I like to meet people," Lee said.

Like Williams, Randy Barnhouse, Debbie's husband, will reprise his role from the 2001 version, playing Daisy's son Boolie.

The story is so great, Randy Barnhouse said, "it's an honor to do it."

Randy Barnhouse and Williams say they've had a little easier job learning lines this time around, but not much, as the characters still reside somewhere in the depths of their minds. But this time a new challenge is added, as each Daisy plays her role a little differently, requiring a little different reaction from Boolie and Hoke.

"They are both their very own, very unique Miss Daisy," Debbie Barnhouse said.

With such a small cast, the actors will be front and center in this play, acting out parts that will be familiar to so many thanks to the 1989 movie version of "Miss Daisy."

Costume changes must happen lightning-fast, and the actors have page after page of lines to memorize.

"There's no downtime," Hency said.

Debbie Barnhouse said the audience's expectations from the movie shouldn't have a detrimental effect -- the script follows the same story. "They know the storyline when they walk in, and when they walk out they have that same storyline," she said.

The biggest difference is there won't actually be a car, since there's no room on stage. But theater requires imagination, and the audience will be asked to imagine a car around Hoke and Daisy, where in reality there's just a steering column.

"Most theater patrons understand it's theater, so they honestly don't expect an actual automobile," Debbie Barnhouse said.

In bringing the "Daisy" characters to life, though, the actors have tried not to take too much from the film version, so those expecting Williams to be Morgan Freeman will be disappointed.

"I don't want to be Morgan Freeman, but I have watched the movie, I've watched his characteristics and I've watched the way he delivers his lines, so I've taken a little bit from that and tried to make it my own," Williams said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182