"Don't miss it!"         
San Francisco Chronicle

 

"A howling hit...side-splitting comedy!"          
Asheville Citizen-Times

 

 

"The funniest play to come along in years!  This is the show that blew the top off! "   
Broach Theatre, Greensboro, NC

 

 

"Their witty, hilarious script made this comedy
a sure winner."          
Wilson Daily Times

 

 "An absolute delight... truly side-splitting entertainment." 
The Herald-Argus, Michigan City, IN

 

“These delicious characters from Fayro ring SO true!   Jessie, Nick and Jamie are writers who obviously know what they’re doing.  And what they’re doing is hilarious!” 
Rue McClanahan

"It didn't take the audience at the premiere of 'The Dixie Swim Club' very long to know: playwrights Jones, Hope and Wooten have another hit on their hands." 
Wilson Daily Times

"Set a spell and let the comedy wash over you like ice-cold Dr. Pepper on a hot day."
Contra Costa Times

 

 

"The show boasts one of the funniest scripts ever produced in the theatre group's history."    Okeechobee Times

 

 

"A knee-slappin' good time!"
The Van Wert Ohio independent

 

"A... Southern-fried, wild and crazy
fast-paced production... a riot!" 
Talkin' Broadway, Regional News & Reviews

 

“A side-splitting, laughing-all-the-way-down-the aisle experience for audience and cast alike.” 
Sprague Community Theatre, Bandon, OR

“Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here to roar with laughter.”
A! Magazine For The Arts

Friday, November 23, 2007
Enjoy some down-home ‘Southern Hospitality’
by Tim Reid, take 5 Correspondent
Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville, NC

ASHEVILLE — The Futrelle sisters swing into action to save their beloved Fayro, Texas, in “Southern Hospitality,” the third installment of the popular story by Asheville comedy writers Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.

This time Fayro is suffering an economic decline with the loss of businesses and jobs. Even Geneva Musgrave (Thelma Cousins), owner of the Bookoo Bouquet florist shop, complains there hasn’t been “a good funeral” in months. Folks are going to have to leave their beloved town if a major new employer isn’t found soon. The Futrelle sisters aren’t about to let that happen.

Honey Raye (Joan Atwood) concocts a scheme to put on a giant “Fayro Days” festival to impress the president of a hot sauce factory who is considering moving his plant to Fayro.

Her sister Frankie (Kay Crews St. Clair) is pressed into hosting the visitor in her home, which they pretend is a bed and breakfast.

Meanwhile, just about everyone in town tries to make the hastily concocted “Fayro Days” a big success to impress the hot sauce king.

Frankie’s husband Dub (Roger Magendie) helps coordinate a Civil War battle re-enactment — never mind the fact there was no battle within hundreds of miles of Fayro.

Their daughter, Gina Jo (Julia Cunningham), puts on a petting zoo despite the fact that all she can muster are a dog, a cat and a stuffed emu. Her preacher husband, Justin (Cory Boughton), meanwhile gambles away their car at a nearby casino.

Twink Futrelle (Kerry Shannon) is determined to make her longtime boyfriend, John Curtis Butner (Steve Wilde), marry her as the highlight of Fayro Days.

Shirley Cohen nearly steals the show as Dub’s irascible Aunt Iney, who spits and fumes vitriol at Dub and Frankie’s every attempt to win her favor — and her sizable estate.

Frank Salvo does a wonderful job as Reynard Chisum, a simple but sweet town character who keeps gushing how great Fayro is while residents make absolute fools of themselves.

Jessie Jones directs this hilarious tale in which all the characters are over the top but somehow reminiscent of real people with all their faults and foibles.

A strong cast and an irresistible story line make this a sure crowd-pleaser.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times.
He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

 

NEWS

Announcing Another Jones Hope Wooten World Premiere!
Asheville Community Theatre
Asheville, NC
July 2009

‘Til Beth Do Us Part

In today’s high-pressure, overworked world, who hasn’t yearned for someone to step in and manage his or her life?  Suzannah Hayden certainly has. With a super-charged career demanding most of her attention and energy, she needs a lot more help on the homefront than she’s getting from her husband, Gibby. Enter Beth Butler. Her gregarious, good ol’ Southern girl sensibility makes Paula Deen look like a shy wallflower. To Suzannah’s delight and Gibby’s dismay, Beth explodes into the Hayden household and whips it into an organized, well-run machine.  As Suzannah’s dependence on Beth grows and Gibby’s dislike of the woman deepens, Suzannah gives Beth carte blanche to change anything in the household that “will make it run more efficiently.”  Unfortunately, the change Beth sees fit to make is to convince Suzannah that Gibby must go!  Joined by their fractious friends, Gibby and Suzannah’s new-found determination to save their marriage and get rid of this “Southern-fried Mary Poppins from Hell” fuels non-stop hilarity and sets up the wildly funny climax in which things go uproariously awry.

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ANNOUNCING A NEW PUBLICATION!
Southern Hospitality
Manuscript copies now available from
Dramatists Play Service, Inc., NYC
Third in the Futrelle Family Texas trilogy.
A true Southern-fried farce!

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The Dixie Swim Club
Manuscript Copies now available from
Dramatists Play Service, Inc., NYC.
Brand new Southern comedy about the
power of friendships that last forever.

 

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Jones Hope Wooten
Summer 2007 East Coast Tour
of Our Family of Theatres

Playwrights with Members of
Bowie Community Theatre
Bowie Playhouse
Bowie, MA
August 8, 2007

Playwrights with "Dearly Beloved"
Cast Members and Staff at Burlington Players
Burlington, MA
August 9, 2007

Playwrights with "Dearly Beloved"
Cast and Crew
Chebeague Island Players
Chebeague Island, ME
August 10, 2007

Watch for the Summer, 2008 Tour
of The Jones Hope Wooten Family
of Midwestern Theatres!

 

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ARTICLES AND REVIEWS

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Saturday, September 22, 2007
Laughter rises at 'The Dixie Swim Club'
By Hal Tarleton Daily Times Opinion Editor
Wilson, NC

It didn't take the audience at the Friday night premiere of "The Dixie Swim Club" very long to know: Playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten have another hit on their hands.

Within minutes after the first lines of this 33-year drama were heard, peals of laughter were rippling through the audience. It was a sign of things to come. Before the first act was over, the audience members had to feel like they were trapped in a closet with Rodney Dangerfield on amphetamines -- the one-liners just kept coming and coming and coming.

Witty repartee is a hallmark of Jones, Hope and Wooten as much as sparkle is a part of De Beers, and this new comedy is no exception. Just a couple of samples: "I have a martini shaker, and I know how to use it" and "Since she's in a coma, she's not nearly so judgmental."

The playwrights have the good graces to spread the comic lines fairly evenly among the five cast members. No one gets left out, and all five face moments when the entire auditorium roars at one of their lines.

Debbie Williams, Cyndi Broadwater, Vicky Stewart, Kathy Creech and Becky Vanden Bosch don't let the laughter interrupt their timing and concentration as they flesh out the five very different characters who have been close friends since their days on a college swim team. The play gives glimpses of four of their annual weekend beach trips. Each year, they go to the same cottage with the same friends and find that things are never the same.

All five actresses live up to the confidence the playwrights displayed in them when they chose the Wilson Playhouse for the premiere of this new play. All five are veterans and do comedy quite well. Creech is up to her usual high standards for slapstick and sarcasm, and Broadwater brings the self-centered, man-crazy Lexie to vivid reality.

Williams provides something of an anchor around which the other four characters can swim. Her Sheree is the sensible, once-married, organized one, but she still manages to get in comic lines. Stewart plays Dinah, the vodka-loving lawyer, with just the right amount of carefree spirit mixed with heavy responsibilities.

Vanden Bosch's entrance -- if you can believe this -- tops Creech's, when her character, Jeri Neal, arrives at the cottage with her big surprise in Act I. Laughter halted the play when Vanden Bosch stepped through the door.

The playwrights were in the audience for this world premiere of their latest work and had reveled in the admiration of patrons at a reception before curtain. Friday night's audience did not quite fill the 650-seat Boykin Center, but it had to be one of Playhouse's largest audiences.

When director Jeff Creech, appropriately tuxedoed for this premiere, recognized Jones, Hope and Wooten before the play began, the ovation was long and enthusiastic. And that was before the play!

The audience had much more to cheer about later.

After teasing and tickling the audience throughout Act I with nonstop punch lines, the playwrights quieted the laughter in Act II with some serious, even somber lines. Without betraying its comic foundation, "Dixie Swim Club" finds room for sentiment, nostalgia and poignancy at the end.

Jones, Hope and Wooten can be proud of their new hit, and the Playhouse has to be pleased with the success of its first world premiere.