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Civic Theatre Melodrama
Clear as Mud in
Brownsville
By Elaine Bailey
Although he played the role of a blind bobby, 2011 Greenville graduate
Kent Holmes clearly saw the elements of a melodrama when he authored
the entertaining “Dirt Rush or… Clear as Mud in Brownsville.”
Directed by Dane Leeper, Thursday evening’s Darke County Civic Theatre
opening performance drew a large crowd.
The audience spurred the actors with traditional boos and hisses for
the villain Hugh Morris played by James Maloney and the villainess Big
Ol Momma JuJu played by Jackie Middleton. The appearance of hero
Spot Brown played by Simon Hoying was welcomed with yeas and cheers.
Ahs and ohs prompted the heroine Norma Lee Boring played by Spring
Koger to flutter her lashes and coyly shift. But coy and shy Miss
Norma Lee Boring was not when, as the newly-hired bank security
officer, she boldly confronts a bank robber, played by Jay-Paul
Choudhary who daily robs the bank.
Script writer Kent Holmes creatively orchestrated an engaging plot
supported with varied characters, comical antics, and plays on
words. The story takes place in Brownsville, a small town in
Darke County. Major Brown, played by Larry Holmes, attempts to
stop a crime wave while winning votes for an upcoming mayoral election.
When the villain plots to run away with the town’s money, Blind Bobby
Bobbie overhears the plan but is not able to convince Spot Brown until
it’s too late. After taking the money and kidnapping his
ex-girlfriend Norma Lee Boring, the villain seals his own fate by
betraying Big Ol Momma JuJu.
Playright Holmes and the melodrama’s hero, Leeper, are second-year
students at Ball State University. The former president of Greenville
High School Key Club and Leeper are also two-year scholarship
recipients from the Senior Scribes Scholarship Fund. Holmes wrote and
produced many plays while at GHS, as well as had some video showings of
his movie-making at Memorial Hall.
The Darke County Civic Theatre melodramas have been part of the Annie
Oakley Festival weekend for years.
Other supporting members of the cast include Sandy Hartley (Mrs.
Brown), Jackson Aukerman (Pepe Roni), Matt Cline (Baron Von Achoo),
Devon Persons (Dusty Pants), Taylor Dorn (Anita Pants), and Kari Kramer
(Sally Silence). Olivia Leeper (Capri Pants) had another
commitment and was unable to appear in this particular performance.
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