Miss Firecracker Contest Play Analysis

At the Thursday night showing of The Miss Firecracker Contest, which was originally written by Beth Henley and directed by Maria Gobetti, at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Dunham Hall the six character play unfolded. In the play the protagonist, Carnelle Scott, played by Gracie Sartin, enters herself into a beauty contest that she hopes to win in order to save her reputation in her hometown. Carnelle’s character was prtorayed very well, especially when it came to expressing her boldness, which was indicated by her dyed red wig she wore, and Gracie truly expressed Carnelle’s need to be accepted within her community. However, as well as Gracie was on stage, another character became more prominent to me as the protagonist of the play as it continued to develop. Her name is Popeye Jackson, played by Halley Roberston, and Halley played this socially awkward character so well that it drew the audience’s focus away from the

Popeye became the main sense of emotion and humor on stage, she changed more throughout the play, and her love story with Delmount makes a direct connection with the audience. One of the first things that Popeye does that averts the audience’s attention from Carnelle to herself is how she is able to appeal to the audience with her humor that is set on by how socially awkward she is. Almost immediately after entering the stage, Popeye takes out a magnifying glass to look at an object even though she already has enormous glasses on, which makes her eye balls seem to pop out of her head. Popeye continues this sense of humor that results from her social isolation in her past until the very end when she makes the noises of the fireworks going off, “POW, POW, POW!” On the other hand, Popeye also appeals to the