Cast in Rehearsals for Plant City Entertainment’s ‘Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?'

Mollie Anderson, a veteran of community theater in Greater Brandon, had never seen or heard of the show that now occupies her time with lines to learn and nights to rehearse.

“I’m looking forward to have to portray a southerner from Texas since I lived in Houston for nine years and I was born in Georige,” Anderson said. “I very rarely get to use that accent.”

The play is, “Daddy’s Dyin’ Who’s Got the Will?” and it’s in production with Plant City Entertainment for six show dates in May.

It’s not as well-known as the other show for which Anderson is in rehearsals, that being the “Odd Couple,” the female version, for The Pelican Players in Sun City Center, for which she landed the role of Florence Unger.

But a good sense of “Daddy’s Dyin’ " comes from Anderson’s assessment of the character she portrays in the show Variety called, “a masterful comedy."

To hear Anderson tell it: 

• "I’ve never seen the show before and heard from other thespians that it was really funny.”

• "I actually auditioned for Evalita [Turnover], who is the more promiscuous of all the sisters and has been married five times.”

• "I instead got cast as Sara Lee [Turnover], a hairdresser, and the only sister who stayed home to help care for [Buford] Daddy [Turnover]. I’m sure it will be a fun role, too. I can see that she has moments of sadness, loneliness, feelings of insecurity, and some jealous and anger issues with Evalita.”

The play is set “in a small Texas town in Anytime, U.S.A.,” reads the show’s synopsis on the Plant City Entertainment Web site. The play “concerns the reunion of a family gathered to await the imminent death of their patriarch, who has recently suffered a physically as well as mentally disabling stroke."

The play, continues the synopsis, “is not the story of the impending demise of the father or the drafting of his will but of a rebirth of the spirit of the family unit.”

Show dates are May 6-7 at 8 p.m.; May 7 at 2 p.m.; and May 12-14 at 8 p.m., at the Plant City Entertainment Theater at 101 North Collins Street in Plant City. For evening performances, the doors open at 7 p.m.; for the matinee, doors open at 1 p.m.

Note, too, that the Sunday matinee falls on Mother's Day and Plant City Entertainment will stage as well a Mother's Day Brunch with complimentary champagne, mimosas or sangria, and flowers for moms for those who purchase brunch tickets.

The show is directed by Coy Permenter and assistant directed by his wife, Kristen Permenter.

THE CAST

• Sara Lee Turnover: MOLLIE ANDERSON
• Lurlene Turnover Rogers: DODIE WHITE
• Mama Wheelis: TOM THOENI
• Evalita Turnover: HEATHER BAUGHMAN
• Harmony Rhodes: NATHAN PEARCE
• Orville Turnover: TYLER HOLLIS
• Buford “Daddy” Turnover: BEN RAWNSLEY
• Marlene Turnover: SANDY WORTH