Playwright trio stops in Corsicana

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Daily Sun photo/Deanna Brown The Warehouse Living Arts Theatre was honored Friday with a visit from the playwrights responsible for 'Dixie Swim Club' which opens Thursday. From left to right are Janet Martin, Nicholas Hope, Jessie Jones, Jamie Wooten, Debbie Hanks and Sandra McClure Mahood, executive director. The playwrights are touring theatres across Texas.

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March 16, 2010

By Deanna Brown Corsicana Daily Sun The Corsicana Daily Sun Tue Mar 16, 2010, 10:16 AM CDT

Corsicana — How often do major playwrights come to Corsicana?

The trio of Jones/Hope/Wooten made a stop on their tour of Texas at the Warehouse Living Arts Theatre Friday, just a week before the play they wrote “The Dixie Swim Club” opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Jessie Jones spent much of her career as a character actor, doing New York City stage, regional theatre, television and film. She has written short stories and television sitcoms, and decided when the actors kept getting younger and younger in Hollywood, that she’d branch out and write plays for people “her age.”

Nicholas Hope has written episodic television and served as a casting director. He and Jones once ran a theater in Austin together, hence their love of Texas.

Jamie Wooten has written nearly 400 episodes of network television, and was a writer/producer of “The Golden Girls.”

Together, the trio has penned plays that have been produced in 46 of the 50 United States, in Canada and Australia. The Warehouse Living Arts Theatre once produced “Dearly Beloved,” written by Jones/Hope/Wooten, and will start its run of “The Dixie Swim Club” Thursday.

On their tour of 12 Texas theatres, the trio stopped in Corsicana at the WLAC, which has been in operation for 39 years, continuously.

“We love your shows so much, particularly ‘Dixie,’” said Sandra McClure Mahood, WLAC executive director. “It gives me goose bumps.”

“It makes me cry,” echoed Janet Martin, one of the stars of “The Dixie Swim Club.”

Wooten said the trio occasionally does tours of different parts of the country, and has been longing to tour Texas, where many of their plays are based. The three playwrights have residences in New York City and Asheville, N. Carolina, where they are based currently.

“We live for these tours,” Wooten said. “It beats staying in the office. We have met so many nice people, we call them our ‘family of theatres.’”

The trio was impressed with the “Dixie” set, designed and built by Son Bowden, taking turns sitting on the couch, and admiring the scenery.

“We finish here, then have one more day on the road, then we’re hightailing it back to home base to finish writing a play that’s due now,” Jones said.

“The Red Velvet Cake War” is set in Sweetgum, Texas, just 17 miles south of Fayro, Texas. The trio believes it may just be the first of a new trilogy of plays, and it is set to open in Tennessee in October.

“God smiled on us, and we had two plays published in one year,” Jones said. “I would like to give you a copy of ‘Til Death Do Us Part.’”

“It has a gigantic farce at the end,” Wooten said.

“And it has one character that’s just as southern as Paula Deen,” Hope echoed.

The trio has collaborated for nearly five years, had six plays published, and 800-plus productions of their plays. To learn more about them, visit joneshopewooten.com.

Debbie Hanks of the WLAC board mentioned this was the first time they’d ever met the playwrights of plays produced at WLAC. Jones said she and her partners have seen many productions of their plays, and believe they are better for it.

“The Dixie Swim Club” opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and will have 10 shows. Since the theatre has 132 seats, it is best to reserve tickets early by calling the box office at (903) 872-5421.

“We would love for you to come back when we have our 40th anniversary celebration next year,” Hanks said.

Loaded down with goodies from Collin Street Bakery, the trio bid adieu, with Jones saying, “We are so grateful to you for producing our shows.”

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Deanna Brown may be contacted via e-mail at deanna@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Sound Off” on this story? E-mail soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.

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Playwright trio stops in Corsicana

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