Sept 16 & 17: The Hartsville Community Players at the Center Theater

The Red Velvet Cake War is Coming to Hartsville

The Hartsville Community Players and CareFIRST Carolinas Foundation are partnering to present “The Red Velvet Cake War,” a Jones, Hope, Wooten Southern-fried comedy, directed by Elayne Mahn.

Dates for the play are Sept. 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. at Center Theater, 212 N. Fifth St., Hartsville.

Sept. 17’s performance is a fundraiser for the CareFIRST Carolinas Foundation. Proceeds for the evening gala and performance remain locally in the five-counties CareSouth serves — Darlington, Chesterfield, Lee, Marlboro and Dillon — with proceeds going to help families in need of help with procedures and medications.

Before that performance is a wine and cheese gala reception with entertainment at Black Creek Arts Center. Tickets for the gala are $40 and include reserved seating for the play. Regular admission tickets also will be available for the performance only with ticket sales going to the CareFIRST Carolinas Foundation.

Tickets will be available soon at Burry Bookstore, the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce in downtown Hartsville and www.hartsvillecommunityplayers.org. On the day of the performance, the box office opens 30 minutes beforehand for the purchase of tickets.

The play takes place in Sweetgum, Texas, during the hottest part of July. Three Verdeen cousins have picked the worst possible time to plan a family reunion.

Tongues begin to wag when one of the cousins plows her car into the wall of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s girlfriend’s doublewide. Another cousin is trying to outmaneuver her neighbor for the affections of the town’s newest widower while the other one is trying to decide if it is time to have her long-lost truckerhusband declared legally dead.

In comes a host of wildly eccentric family members for the summer reunion. Everything spins horribly and hilariously out of control when the neighbor’s pet eats the food, a one-eyed suitor shows up to declare his love and a wager is made on who bakes the best red velvet cake in town.

Regular admission tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students with an ID.

The above story was written by:
Ardie Arvidson of the Hartsville Messenger