Anxious season pass holders and newcomers alike filled the seats at the Firehouse Theatre Project on Friday night for the opening of the timeless production “Kingdom of Earth,” written by Tennessee Williams. The play takes a look into the lives of three individuals who live on a Mississippi farm during the 1960s. It opens with Chicken, played by Scott Wichmann, calling off to an unseen group of motorists departing the town because of an incoming flood. Chicken then tells the audience he got his name when he climbed on the roof of his farm with some chickens during a previous flood.
The audience soon learns that this country bumpkin, with his dark complexion, raw aggression and rugged attractiveness, made a deal with his half brother Lot (Joseph Arron Papa) to watch the farm until Lot succumbs to a severe case of Tuberculosis. At this point Chicken would become the sole owner of the land. Chicken thought this would be an easy task until Lot’s newlywed wife, Myrtle (Jacqueline O’ Connor), gets in his way.
This hilarious comedy guarantees to make you laugh with Myrtle, a former showgirl better known as the “Petite Personality Kid,” making crazy costume changes and Lot’s “momma’s boy syndrome” and TB progressions. Chicken’s bolstering voice and kitten tossing, and Myrtle’s threats lead to an unlikely partnering and a twisted love story.
The cast makes this classic play come alive for Richmonders who are all too familiar with floods. At the play’s end, theatre guests applauded the trio of actors and stayed afterward chatting up the performance and enjoying some home cooking.
This particular evening, Karen’s Diner provided a free buffet of southern cooking including jambalaya, rice, cornbread and pumpkin pie.