The Miss Firecracker Contest at The Raleigh Playhouse

To honor the memory of the founder, Dan Bickey, of The Raleigh Theatre they will be performing two additional live shows of “The Miss Firecracker Contest”.  The admission will be ‘pay what you like’ and all donations will go to different endowments that Bickey founded for Beckley and surrounding areas. Performances will begin at 8pm.

” The Miss Firecracker Contest”  by Beth Henley takes place in the small Mississippi town of Brookhaven,  a few days before the Fourth of July. Carnelle Scott, known locally as “Miss Hot Tamale”, is rehearsing furiously for the Miss Firecracker Contest—hoping that a victory will salvage her tarnished reputation and allow her to leave town in a blaze of glory. The unexpected arrival of her cousin Elain, a former Miss Firecracker winner complicates matters a bit, as does the repeated threat of Elain’s eccentric brother, Delmount, to sell the family homestead and decamp for New Orleans. But, aided by a touchingly awkward seamstress named Popeye and several other cheerfully nutty characters Carnelle must work to persevere.