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Second Street Players travel back to 'Faith County'

By Craig Horleman
Posted 4/23/21

Second Street Players in Milford take a trip back to Faith County starting this weekend with the show “An Evening of Culture: Faith County II.” The show’s prequel, “Faith …

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Second Street Players travel back to 'Faith County'

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Second Street Players in Milford take a trip back to Faith County starting this weekend with the show “An Evening of Culture: Faith County II.” The show’s prequel, “Faith County,” was produced by SSP in 2015.

The comedy revisits a small town in Arkansas where members of the Mineola Council for Cultural Recognition are presenting a performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” They attempt to bring to life one of the Bard’s classic plays on their cheaply built and constantly collapsing stage. It soon becomes evident none are too sure of their lines, some are too old for their roles, the set is falling apart, and a dog will not shut up.

In this play-within-a-play, the director, Violet Farkle (played by EJ Panico), and star, Mildred Carson (Nancy Mikkelsen), are joined by local morality maven Ruthanne Barnes (Dana Willens), beauty consultant Naomi Farkle Carson (Karen Marshall), and Faye McFaye (Vikki Jenkins) who have been working hard on their Shakespearean performances along with Bubba Bedford (Andrew Hertzberg) and Luther Carson (Minor Hardin). They just hope that the set built by Delbert Fink (Ed Guinan) is ready in time.

“They want to put together ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and they take it somewhat seriously — more some than others. But the set is being still built around them. Juliet is looking for her balcony because she needs her big balcony scene and Delbert hasn’t finished building it yet. So there’s tension and it’s a farce,” said director Melissa Brenner.

“There’s a lot of silly things that happen. A lot of running back and forth and it’s just really a fun place to play that you can definitely come and just escape. So they’re putting on ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ The first thing is them all getting ready for the show,and then it goes right into the show,  and all kinds of things are going wrong all around them.

Ms. Brenner said this is a perfect show for the times in which we’re living.

“We looked at several plays with the priority that it was a comedy. We wanted to come out and laugh. We felt that people don’t want to come out and see something dark and scary and sad. They’ve been living that. So we knew it was going to be a comedy,” she said.

“And then we also looked at the virtual screening rights because we weren’t sure how long this (pandemic) was going to last, and a lot of people don’t feel comfortable going in theaters yet. So we still want to give them the opportunity to watch it virtually. A few people had already read ‘Faith County II’ and they remember doing it six years ago and that people liked it.”

In addition to shows tonight and Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 2 p.m. along with performances April 30 and May 1 at 7 p.m. and May 2 at 2 p.m., the production will be streamed online Sunday night at 7.

In keeping with social-distancing protocols, the number of seats sold will not exceed 40 for each show and the performers will be wearing clear face shields.

There are only a limited amount of tickets available for live shows this weekend.

Ms. Brenner said rehearsals have been going great for the first-time director.

“My assistant director Gina Shuck has been a godsend. I couldn’t have done it without her as well as the cast,” she said.

“We had 22 people come out and audition and we did it in groups of four and they all had their own time. We gave them their (scripts) ahead of time so they could look at what they were going to be reading for. We wanted to keep everything very safe and we have a wonderful cast and honestly 99 percent of a director’s job is having a really good cast and crew. They just have wonderful ideas and everybody’s just like, ‘Oh, can we do this and this and this?’ and with me and improv, I try everything to see what I like. It’s been really a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of work and I think it’s a lot easier to be on stage, honestly.”

For Nancy Mikkelsen, who plays star Mildred Carson, this is a return to the same role she played on Second Street’s Riverfront Theater stage six years ago.

“I had a blast the first time when we did “Faith County.” We had just moved to Delaware. I had been doing community theater in the Lehigh Valley area around Allentown, Pennsylvania, for many years and so we had just moved here and I was like ‘Well, let’s try community theater here,’” she said.

“And so it was my first foray into community theater down here in southern Delaware and so yeah I was thrilled when I saw that they were going to do the saga continues and decided that I would go ahead and give it another shot because she’s a fun character to play.”

Ms. Mikkelsen says she thinks Mildred’s heart is in the right place.

“She’s an interesting character. She’s fairly serious, and in this show especially, she’s very serious about this acting gig that they’re doing. She’s a strong character who takes over any room and sucks all the air out of the room when she goes into it. So she’s a lot of fun” she said.

“From the beginning, I’ve said she’s got a good heart. She’s just very focused. Sometimes that comes across as being a little bold or bossy or brassy. But she really does care about the people in Mineola and she’s very determined that she’s going to do the best job she can. And she expects them to do the same. So she’s fun. I like her.”

Ms. Mikkelsen agrees with Ms. Brenner about the hard work put in by the real-life cast of “Faith County II.”

“The process has been amazing. We have kind of a mixture of folks with stage experience. We have a couple of new actors. We have one who it’s their second show and one who it’s her first show. Oftentimes you never know how people are going to gel together as a cast. We were actually commenting (Tuesday) night that we’ve had no drama. We have people that understand that when rehearsal starts at seven, you’re supposed to be there before seven so that you’re ready to start. So we have a very dedicated, professional cast, which always makes it fun because then you can focus on the fun stuff because you know that the regular things are going to be taken care of,” she said.

She said it’s a fast-paced show.

“We’ve gotten a chance to work on some of the real nuanced, funny stuff. So there’s always lots going on. I’ve just really been encouraging people that are coming to the show to keep their eyes scanning because there’s always something going on,” she said.

Nods to the ongoing pandemic have been inserted in the show.

“We’ve added physical bits that weren’t necessarily written (in the script). We use hand sanitizer after touching each other, things like that. It’s very contemporary without changing the flavor of the play. We have a little dance sequence where we touch hands and then we all go for the hand sanitizer,” she said.

Performances of “An Evening of Culture: Faith County II” will be at the Riverfront Theater, 2 S. Walnut St. in Milford. Seats are $20 with a $1 discount available to seniors, military, students, and members. Tickets are all general admission to facilitate state guidelines. Ushers will seat each party to maintain social distancing.

Passes to the Sunday night streaming event are also available for $20.

To purchase tickets to a live or streaming show or for more information, visit here. Patrons who need assistance with the ticketing website or with other questions may email info@secondstreetplayers.com, or leave a message at 302-422-0220.

Broadwalk on the Boardwalk

The Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition and CAMP Rehoboth will hold the 2021 Broadwalk on the Boardwalk on Sunday. Broadwalk on the Boardwalk is a free event, organized and originally created by Kathy Wiz in honor of her sister’s battle with breast cancer. Broadwalk has historically wrapped up the CAMP Rehoboth Women’s Fest weekend. Each year Broadwalk on the Boardwalk draws hundreds to the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk to walk as a group. Per COVID-19 safety precautions organizers are encouraging Broadwalkers to walk or run at any location they choose.

You can participate anytime Sunday at home (indoors or outdoors), at a nearby park, or just your favorite place to walk or run. Walkers are encouraged to share photos in the discussion of the DBCC Broadwalk on or off the Boardwalk Facebook event. Participants are welcome to join CAMP Rehoboth Courtyard for photos from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. CAMP Rehoboth is located at 37 Baltimore Ave, Rehoboth Beach.

DBCC will be selling pink boas for a suggested donation of $10. All proceeds from the 2021 Broadwalk on the Boardwalk benefit DBCC’s programs. For additional information, call 212-2947 or email Connie Holdridge at choldridge@debreastcancer.org.

Allen in concert

News came in Thursday that Milton’s own Jimmie Allen, who was just named New Artist of the Year at Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, will host a virtual concert at 7 p.m. on May 8 to benefit Sussex Academy in Georgetown.

Tickets for the virtual show are $20 and are available online here.

Now showing

New this weekend in theaters is the martial arts film “Mortal Kombat” and the anime film “Demon Slayer - Kimetsu No Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train”

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