Brotherhood tested to the max in ‘Lone Star’

Brotherhood, cold brewskies and the complexities of adult relationships – siblings, friends and spouses – are at the core of “1959 Pink Thunderbird Lone Star,” the latest offering by Lorna & Bernadette Productions.

Set to open May 6 at the Courtyard Marriott in Houma, the play is the handiwork of Louisiana-born writer James McLure, who died in February of cancer.

This adults-only show sheds its Texas setting, opting for a more familiar Cajun environs instead – T-man’s Bar on Lake Verret near Napoleonville.

The end result, co-directors Lorna Farrar and Bernadette Dugas promise, is a night of fun entertainment for audiences.

“It’s the fifth time we’ve put on ‘Lone Star,'” Farrar said. “People just kept asking us and asking us when we were going to do it again … so we are!”

“Lone Star” finds Reuvan (Reggie Pontiff) and his brother Caloon (Brian Chiasson) chugging beer and remembering past times, good and bad. Talk focuses on beer, popcorn, old friends, past jaunts into New Orleans, Reuvan’s stint in Vietnam and his main pride and joy, a 1959 Pink Thunderbird convertible.

Added to the mix are Cletis T. Fullermoy (Larry Hyatt), a clueless furniture salesman, and his bride of two years, Becky Lee (Sue Peace), and Bergit (Farrar). Cletis, who worships Reuvan for his good looks, swagger, hero status and, most especially, his car, comes bearing bad news. It seems he drove, without permission, and totaled Reuvan’s wheels.

Meanwhile, his wife Amy Lee, a Baptist and town do-gooder, is on her own mission – to hold claim to her status over Bergit and to claim lost souls for God.

After Caloon agrees to take the blame for the late Thunderbird, the news leads to bigger confessions that will test the depths of brotherly love.

“After 15 years of playing this crazy, drunk Cajun, this is Caloon’s swan song,” said Chiasson, who has played both brothers in various runs of the production. “I love both brothers, but I have a special place in my heart for Caloon. It’s because of the intimacy he shares with his brother. They’re both really family guys and audiences see that in the end.”

Farrar and Dugas’ version of “Lone Star” first ran at Oak Alley Plantation more than 12 years ago.

“We’d changed the character names and infused the script with Cajun-French,” Farrar said, noting that the adjustments softened some of the crudeness in McLure’s original script.

“The first time we performed it, I was so nervous because of the changes,” she recalled. “James McLure’s aunt was in the audience and she went back and told him how funny it was.”

The Lorna & Bernadette team later received a letter from the author “thanking us for putting such a delightful twist to it,” Farrar said. The group also provided McLure a videotape of one of the performances, which he shared with his ailing father. “He said it was the first time he’d seen his dad laugh in quite a while.”

The local production team asked McLure to pen something specifically for the area. But following his death, the modified “Lone Star” endures. And, surprisingly, the show has emerged as something of a “man’s play,” according to Farrar. “Men who typically don’t like theatre love this show,” she explained. “It’s great fun for everyone, but the men always tell us afterward how surprised they were that they enjoyed it so much. It would make a great outing for mom, too, for Mother’s Day.”