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Twin Lakes Playhouse opens its summer comedy “The Hallelujah Girls” on Friday, with a run through June 28 at its Mountain Home stage.
The Jones Hope Wooten comedy follows five lifelong friends in the fictional town of Eden Falls, Georgia. After a classmate dies, one of the women buys an abandoned church and turns it into a day spa. The friends start gathering there every Friday, and a neighbor takes to calling them the Hallelujah Girls.
Director Dianne Pankau said the story is built around that simple turning point. “A classmate passes away, and they decide they need to change their lives,” Pankau said. “So one of them buys an old church and turns it into a day spa.”
The show unfolds across six scenes, each set on a different Friday over the course of a year. Most land near a holiday, which gives the production its seasonal rhythm. Pankau described the tone as familiar to fans of Southern stage comedy.
Cast member Vance Jones, who plays Bobby Dwayne Dillahunt, put the comparison plainly. “It has very much a Steel Magnolias feel, that friendship and camaraderie through thick and thin,” Jones said. “But it’s a lot more sass.”
A cast of distinct characters
The five women anchor the show, and Pankau said keeping them apart on stage was one of her biggest jobs. “That was another challenge, having five ladies basically the same age and making them very distinct people,” she said.
Laura Chandler leads the cast as Sugar Lee Thompkins, the friend who buys the church. Chandler is new to Twin Lakes Playhouse, though she brings stage experience from elsewhere.
The rest of the women fill out the spa’s Friday crowd. Patty Kotlicky plays Carlene Travis, a widow who has buried three husbands. Karen McKaig plays Crystal Hart, an eccentric who writes holiday jingles set to the tunes of Christmas carols.
Cindy Young plays Nita Mooney, Sue Howe plays Mavis Flowers, and Nancy Leone plays Bunny Sutherland, the high school mean girl who keeps stirring the pot.
Two men round out the cast. Jones plays Bobby Dwayne, a former high school sweetheart pulled back into Sugar Lee’s life. Gabe Potter plays Porter Padgett, a mama’s boy who falls for Carlene.
Building a character of its own
Jones called his role the most layered work he has done at the playhouse. His character carries 30 years of regret over an old breakup. “Thirty years is a long time to live with that, to think you consciously ruined something,” Jones said. “I feel the most sorry for him in this whole show.”
Pankau built the set around a single image she wanted from the start: a stained glass window. The design grew out from there into a rustic old church reshaped into a spa. Jones said the result stands on its own.
“The set is a character of its own,” Jones said. “It sets the stage for everything.”
The fast pace happens offstage, too. Each woman has six outfits and changes between every scene, often with only the length of a song to make the swap. Pankau set up a temporary dressing room behind the stage so the cast can keep up.
Jones said he and Pankau spent weeks on the music that carries the audience between scenes. A radio disc jockey introduces each song, marking the change in season while the crew resets the stage. Jones said the production is set in 1989, which let the pair build a soundtrack of recognizable hits.
A timely opening
The production arrives after a hard stretch for its writers. Jones Hope Wooten, the trio behind dozens of widely produced Southern comedies, has lost two of its three members. Nicholas Hope died in 2023, and Jessie Jones died March 20 in Washington, D.C., at age 75.
Jamie Wooten is the surviving member of the writing team.
The trio also has a regional tie. In June 2015, Jones Hope Wooten chose the Lyric Theater in Harrison for the world premiere of their comedy “Doublewide, Texas,” staged by the Ozark Arts Council and directed by Mary Bishop. All three writers traveled in for opening night.
Pankau said cast member Karen McKaig, who plays Crystal Hart, performed in that premiere. Her name still appears in the published script.
At its heart, Jones said, the show makes a simple case for second chances. “It’s not too late to find yourself, whether it’s 30 years after you graduate or five minutes after you graduate,” he said.
“The Hallelujah Girls” is directed by Dianne Pankau and assistant directed by Joanne Helms and Andrea McInnis. The production is sponsored by Dauna Powell, Peglar Real Estate Group.
A benefit preview on June 11 supports the American Legion Auxiliary. Regular performances run Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through June 28.
Tickets are $15 and available at tlpmh.org or by calling the box office at 870-424-0444.
