COTTAGE GROVE — Only six theaters in the country were selected by the American Association of Community Theatre’s 2024 NewPlayFest to produce a winner from its script contest. Cottage Grove Theatre is one of those theaters.
Out of over 300 entries, there were six winning plays that won this contest, and Cottage Theatre selected Tennessee Wet Rub as one of their top choices to produce.
Tennessee Wet Rub is a play that provides a historical perspective, reminding the audience how far our country has come since the era of segregation before the Civil Rights Movement—and reminds us of issues that are still relevant today.
An elderly Caucasian couple, Bertha and Hank, are stranded in their barbecue restaurant while a blizzard rages during the winter of 1951. When a white16-year-old, Arleta, and her 20-year-old Black fiancé, Dunk, knock on the door, seeking shelter, Bertha and Hank find themselves in an uncomfortable moral quandary. Marrying, as this mixed race couple plans to do, is against the law. Problems mount when the deputy sheriff arrives to arrest Dunk for kidnapping.
Kim Ruyle, the playwright, has won multiple awards for this play, including NewPlayFest 2024, Scriptwriters & Co International Festival, Legacy Play Reading Festival, and the 91st Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition to name a few—and was a finalist in more contests.
Stanley Coleman, the director, is also a playwright and actor who has been involved in local theater since moving here from Louisiana in 2010. He has directed plays at the Very Little Theatre in Eugene, and he co-founded the Minority Voices Theatre with Carol Dennis.
“Collaborating with the talented playwright Kim Ruyle and the insightful dramaturg David VanCleave has been an enriching experience. It’s also gratifying to see a growing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion among our area theatres,” Coleman said.
Cottage Grove resident and audience member, Norma Edwards, said she used to live in Arkansas and was listening for the accent. When asked if it was accurate, she said no, but graciously added, “For people who don’t live down there, it was a good job.”
For those attending the play, reading the playbill and familiarizing oneself with colloquialisms made the play more enjoyable. Readers will not be disappointed to find out what “goober” means.
“Language, diversity, the stage is marvelous, humor, characters and good acting,” said Gloria Campuzano, Cottage Grove resident and audience member.
The stages at Cottage Grove are always practical, artful and capture the era. There was some great humor and running jokes in this play. The irony is priceless when trans actor, Lucas Wieckowski, was the one to say, “Boys are boys and girls are girls,” as the character emphasizes gender roles.
Wieckowski said that was his favorite line because he was the one who got to say it. This actor plays Vern, the deputy sheriff, who is so convincing, it was hard not to hate him. Truly, it takes skill to hypnotize the audience into forgetting that there is a person under that character—an actor—who is playing the villain. He emphasized he wanted the character to feel like a real person.
The same sentiment was emphasized by Kim Fairbairn, who played Bertha. She mentioned that the playwright didn’t want these characters to feel like caricatures. Fairbairn’s portrayal of Bertha was both fun and poignant. Actors thoroughly captured the body language and emotion of their characters. Arleta Easter, played by Alana Merz, was a convincing love-struck teenager.
Audience member Kurt Keeler expressed the same sentiment many other audience members said during intermission: “We want that recipe — those come-to-Jesus ribs!”
“Tennessee Wet Rub” is showing throughout August on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and on Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove.
Sarina Dorie is the arts columnist for The Chronicle.
