Funny ideas propel Mosley Street Melodrama playwright Carol Hughes
Carol Hughes’ playwriting career began, she says, with a funny idea.
At the time a cocktail waitress at Old Cowtown during the Empire Players Dinner Theatre, she kept the idea percolating until friends Scott Noah and Patty Reeder opened Mosley Street Melodrama in 1997.
“I told them, ‘I’ve got a funny idea,’ and they were like, ‘Write it and we’ll look at it,’” she recalled. “I’ve had shows every year since then. Just because I had a funny idea.”
Hughes estimates she’s written 30 to 35 melodramas for Mosley, putting her second only to Tom Frye, with an estimated 50 scripts.
Opening this weekend is Hughes’ “Little Miss Moonshine,” on stage for its third go-around.
She took the title from the 2006 movie comedy “Little Miss Sunshine,” about a preteen beauty pageant contestant. In “Moonshine,” longtime rivals Etta Lou Hatfield and Lulu May McCoy are competing for a crown.
“They change the rules so they can no longer enter,” she said. “They’re basically obsessed with pageants and winning pageants.”
Hughes said with every revival she has to go back and update the references, Wichita-specific and otherwise, in the script.
That meant getting rid of references to Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres’ talk shows, as well as mentions of local cultural touchstones.
“Sometimes it’s funny because I’ll find some references (where I’m thinking) ‘What was I talking about?’” she said with a laugh. “I had a reference in a show to Wild West World (a quickly defunct Park City theme park in the early 21st century), and some things that were the talk of Wichita for a while, but now it doesn’t make any sense.
“I go back and try to make sure there are no dated references in there and make it current. Sometimes there are some new jokes that will lend themselves pretty easily,” Hughes added, most recently the downtown parking debate in Wichita. “It’s fun to have the local references in there and what people are talking about in the community.”
Hughes said she always has to consider logistics when she writes a script. She knows she’s limited to six performers on stage and has to adjust for the time one might need to change if the actor is playing multiple characters.
The six performers for “Little Miss Moonshine” are Jaslyn Alexander, Injoy Fountain, Daniel Gonzalez-Myers, Steve Hitchcock, Zoe Reitz and Tara Shaffer.
Hughes says that whenever she can, she writes with certain performers in mind.
“This theater community is quite amazing. We have a deep pool of talent,” she said. “Sometimes it’s fun if I write for Kyle Vespestad — I know him well and know his acting abilities and what would be fun for him. Scott Noah’s a fun person to write for, so are Briley Meek and Steve Hitchcock. Sometimes when I don’t know, I visualize Steve Hitchcock and Kyle Vespestad.”
A 20-year veteran of KFDI-FM, Hughes currently works part-time for KVWF (100.5 The Twister) and full-time as a host of a podcast on paranormal topics.
Hughes said her inspiration starts with the words on the marquee; she’s especially proud of the titles “Little Miss Moonshine” and “Little Cookie Shop of Horrors.”
“Usually my inspiration is that I’ll think of a funny title,” she said. “I think a title is really key to making it sound funny. Even if the idea comes before the title, I think the title is really important.”
She said she’s at work creating a new melodrama for Mosley.
“The theater doesn’t know I’m writing it yet, but I am,” she said with a laugh.
‘LITTLE MISS MOONSHINE’
When: Feb. 6 to March 21; show at 7:50 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, preceded by dinner from 6:15-7:30 p.m.; 1:50 p.m. Saturdays, preceded by lunch from 12:15-1:30 p.m.
Where: Mosley Street Melodrama, 234 N. Mosley
Tickets: $41-$44 for dinner and show, $30-$33 for show only, from mosleystreet.com or 316-263-0222