Photo Flash: Circle Players Heat It Up With PICNIC, Beginning Tonight

In its 65th season, Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater company presents a challenging new revival of playwright William Inge's 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about repressed desires and haunting recriminations: Picnic. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the cast!

When a sensual heartbreaker strides into a Kansas town just in time for the Labor Day picnic, he upends the preconceived notions of what passes for life among the denizens of the small town. Hal Carter (played by Taylor Novak, making his Circle Players debut) walks into the shared backyard of Flo Owens (Kaul Williams Bluestone) and Helen Potts (Tammy Sutherland, also in her first Circle show), all bluster and bravado, masking his sensitivity and turning the heads of every woman in the neighborhood, setting in motion a series of events that will forever change the lives of everyone gathered to celebrate the last blush of summer.

There's Madge Owens (Gina D'Arco), Flo's oldest daughter and the town beauty who is dating Hal's former fraternity brother, Alan Seymour (Austin Olive, fresh from his role as Houdini in Circle's Ragtime the Musical); Millie Owens (McKenna Harrington), Flo's quirky and bookish younger daughter who dreams of a writer's life in the big city; and Flo's tenant, Rosemary Sidney (Cat Arnold), the high school business teacher whose desperation and longing for a more exciting life coincides with the appearance of the sexy drifter.

Audiences also will meet Rosemary's "friend-boy" Howard Bevans (played by Tom Clouse in his Circle debut), the paperboy (Connor Hall) with a crush on the beautiful Madge, and three of Rosemary's fellow teachers: Irma Kronkite (Judy Jackson); Christine Schoenwalder (Rebekah Stogner) and Alvah Jackson (Laura Rader, in her stage debut). David Ditmore provides the voice of the local radio DJ.

Special live performances of Moonglow, the theme from Picnic, will highlight intermission during each performance and will feature Memory Strong, David Arnold, Melissa Garner Campbell, Bobby Milford, Brooke Leigh Davis and Melissa Dawn Elkins Vinson at different performances.

Director Jeffrey Ellis (senior contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and a past director of Circle shows in the 1990's) has set Inge's drama in 1952, inspired by the films of Douglas Sirk (Imitation of Life) and set to a score of the best songs from that year.

Picnic is presented by Circle Players at Hillsboro High School Auditorium and runs today, March 26-April 4 (with performances on March 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 pm, March 29 at 3 pm; April 1, 3 and 4 at 7:30 pm). Ticket prices online are $18 for adults, $15 for students and seniors 60 and older. (Tickets cost more at the door before show time). Group rates available for 10 or more. Tickets are available online via www.circleplayers.net. Reservations can be made by emailing boxoffice@circleplayers.net or (615) 332-7529. Tickets are also on sale at the box office at TSU Performing Arts Center one hour before each performance.

Photo Credit: Kenn Stilger/Heavnly Photos