PS to present ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’

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CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee’s High School theater department will be presenting a performance of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” March 17-18 in the high school auditorium, beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are available pre-sale or at the door.

The stars of the show include Katee Rose as Granny, Taylor Ross as Emaline, Trevor Dunn as Jethro, and William Dakota Nickell as Mr. Drysdale. The students are led by Director Adam Albright.

Andrea Lovely worked as the costume designer for the project, Mike Lovely was the stage designer, and Tonya Albright did hair and makeup.

The play is based off the television show of the same name, which originally aired in 1962 and ended in 1971. There was a film made of the same name in 1993. According to Director Albright, the play is based off two specific episodes of the show.

Nickell described the play as, “A backwoods family ends up striking oil in the Arkansas Mountains and they end up moving to Beverly Hills, because they struck it rich.”

“But then when they get there, they have this problem of people trying to steal their money, like me and the colonel. That causes a bunch of shenanigans,” Ross, who plays Emaline, added.

The cast for the performance is 16 strong. They have been practicing since January.

“All of them have done an excellent job working on their characters and learning their characters,” Director Albright said.

As for the characters, each student had something to say about what makes their character important to the play.

Rose said, “Granny is a spry old lady that came out of the mountains to help Jed raise his daughter Ellie May. She’s energized, funny, and has a quick tongue. She’s hilarious.”

Ross is very blunt about her character. “Emaline is the definition of a gold digger,” she said. “That’s her main thing in life. She will do whatever to get what she wants.”

As for the boys, Dunn said, “Jethro does not have a high intellect, but he is smooth with the ladies. It seems to get him in trouble a lot, but he has fun with it. He is a very funny character, he has a lot to say. There’s always something good out of his mouth.”

Nickell discussed the reason his character is funny, adding, “Mr. Drysdale is definitely a funnier character, but he’s more subtle with it. All he cares about is money, and there’s a part where he comes into a dilemma whether to choose his wife or money, and he actually starts to hint at money over his own wife. He’s pretty clever about it, sometimes with his wit, but his humor comes from not caring about anything other than money. It’s pretty funny.”

As for why people should come out to see the play, Dunn said, “A story like this will appeal to all ages. There’s light humor for the young people, but then there’s people who grew up on this show, so anyone who comes here is coming to take something from this.”

“A lot of the humor in this play is stuff that a lot of the people around here will get,” Nickell added.

All of the students in the play put a lot of hard work into preparing for this performance and they are excited for everyone to see it.

“We put a lot of love and dedication into this, so I hope everybody likes it,” Ross said.

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By Kelsey Kimbler

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Reach Kelsey Kimbler at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @KKimbler_RH

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