Corny time coming to WiLLow LeaVes with "Hee Haw"

Local dinner theatre enthusiasts are invited to come out for a laughter-filled jaunt down memory lane as the Actor’s Studio of Hope, in collaboration with WILLow LeaVes of Hope, presents an evening of comedy and music with “A Hee Haw Show” beginning Friday at 7 p.m. at WILLow LeaVes of Hope.

Inspired by the original television series hosted by the late Buck Owens and Roy Clark, which ran from 1969 to 1997, this stage-production is sure to strike a hilarious chord of familiarity, Pyle says.

“It is kind of like the television show,” says Naomi Fleetwood-Pyle, the show’s writer, director and producer.

The two-hour long production will feature all the elements of the original show that viewers came to know and love during its nearly three-decade run, with its last 12 years in syndication.

Prior to raising the curtain opening night, Pyle and her cast of more than one dozen actors and performers will transform the WILLow LeaVes stage into a setting fit for not only an all jug band and gossip girls, but a range of unique talent, including a spoken-word tribute to WILLow LeaVes’ staff and owners.

Set against a backdrop of a big red barn and accented with corn stalks and an obligatory clothesline with big panties waving in the wind, Pyle and her cast are going all out to recreate the iconic variety show Hope-style.

“We’ve got people popping up out of the cornfield telling jokes,” Pyle says. “And we’ve got a couple of gals who are going to do the salute – we are going to salute Hope, Indiana, population 2,228, I think it was.”

Pyle is hopeful the show entices younger curiosity seekers to attend, who, Pyle says, may discover what made Hee Haw so special to audiences back in the day.

“It is a very corny variety show, which is basically what Hee Haw was,” Pyle says. “It was the hillbilly version of the Sonny and Cher show.”

Pyle’s take on the classic will include comedy – from one-liners to skits, cloggers and musical performances, she says.

Among the show’s debut performers is Ginny Pugh Spillman, who will be performing as Tammy Wynette during the first half of the show and Patsy Cline during the second, Pyle says.

Spillman is no stranger to the stage as she has performed since 2005 at the Myers Dinner Theatre in Hillsboro, Ind.

The singer says with just one read through, she knew Pyle’s Hee Haw show is “going to be a hoot!”

Spillman will perform Wynette classics, including “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and “Kids Say the Darndest Things” and Cline classics, such as “Honky Tonk Merry Go Round,” “Three Cigarettes in an Ash Tray” and “Crazy.”

“I tried to find a man who could sing ‘Rhinestone Cowboy,’ but men are in short supply when it comes to acting,” Pyle says.

Even without a crooning Glen Campbell, Pyle has her bases covered.

Helping Pyle weave the shows narrative is Nancy Worland, who portrays the iconic comedian Minnie Pearl. Complete with her “Howdy!” Worland says she has been playing the part of Pearl for five years and appreciates the stock character for her versatility.

“You can twist her jokes,” Worland says. “Like, I am going to make a couple of local references in a classic-style Minnie anecdote. It is fun costume, too, except your neck gets tired eventually from the weight of the hat.”

Pyle and her cast are in agreement with their hope that this show puts a smile on every face that walks through the door.

Alluding to the tumultuous times in which we are living these days, Pyle says this show offers an opportunity for reminiscence, reflection and laughter.

“So many of us remember the Hee Haw Show and we remember how corny it was and yet it was such a wonderful time in our lives,” Pyle says. “We had no cares, we could play outside until dark and mom would holler ‘Come in’ when it got dark. It was a wonderful time in our life when things were easy before the internet, before the social media.”

Throughout the writing process to auditions and on to set blocking and finally rehearsals, Pyle says her hopes for this show have remained steadfast.

“I am hoping people will feel the way I feel about Hee Haw, in that they are going to come, enjoy and have a good time and take a walk with us down that Hee Haw memory lane,” she says.

Spillman is doubling down with her expectations for the show’s run, simply because people need some levity in their lives right now, she says.

“They say laughter is an excellent medicine and it is,” Spillman says. “That has been proven to me time and again. So, I hope the audience gets a lot of medicine out of this. A good evening, excellent food and lots of fun.”