Every town starts out small, but whether it lives or dies depends on the people living there. And in the small town of Fayro, Texas, the people aren’t leaving without a fight.

The theater department will perform the play “Southern Hospitality” next Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Admission to the play will be $5 and proceeds will go to the One Act performance. The show is directed by theater teacher Dave Yirak.

“’Southern Hospitality’ is about a small town at its craziest,” Yirak said. “The play is about families sticking together and sticking it out no matter what happens to them. The cast will tell this story really well.”

Yirak said that this play is to give students a chance to get experience on stage and grow as performers.

“I think the cast is going to be excellent,” Yirak said. “There are some inexperienced people, but that is not necessarily a bad thing if the talent is there.”

“Southern Hospitality” takes place in the small fictional town of Fayro, Texas. The town is slowly dwindling and losing its already small population with the closing of several local businesses. With the help of the friends and family of the Futrelle sisters, the town tries to put on a huge festival to convince a business executive to move her salsa factory to the town for new jobs. However, the “Fayro Days” festival could be too big for the town to create on such short notice with a beauty pageant, Civil War Reenactment, petting zoo, and even a wedding, but these southern belles are not giving up so easily.

“My character is Frankie Dubberly,” junior Madison Myrick said. “She is really down to Earth, and she is trying to make everything perfect for her little town and her sisters. She is the organized and responsible one.”

Myrick said that her character reminds her of her mother because of her guiding role in the play.

“Frankie cares a lot and is very empathetic,” Myrick said. “She gets to experience a lot of different scenes with a lot of different people. She even has several fight scenes with her husband which are going to be really funny.”

Makenzie Kuykendall plays one of the Futrelle sisters, Twink. Kuykendall transferred to Canyon last year from Midland and has been in a number of productions including “Seussical,” “A Christmas Carol,” and “Naria.”

“I’ve been doing musicals since I was eight,” Kuykendall said. “We had to drive by the theater every day on my way to school, and I saw an advertisement for the auditions. I told my mom that I wanted to audition, and I just never stopped.”

Kuykendall said she would describe her character the family member people only loved because they were forced.

“I am excited for this role because it is a lot more fun than anything I have ever done,” Kuykendall said. “My character is not exactly the sanest of us all. I am definitely love crazed and nothing will ever step in the way of my wedding.”

While more than 50 people tried out for the play, there were only 13 roles.

“The chemistry of such a small cast and crew working so hard has brought us all closer together,” Kuykendall said. “I think we have a really good group of people. It’s a lot of fun back stage because we’re all friends and we joke around with each other.”

Among the 11 crew members, junior Blake Ferguson is the first-time stage manager.

“I joined tech crew last year because it was where my friends were and I thought it would be fun,” Ferguson said. “I stayed because it gave me a chance to be a part of the family that is theater without making me face my fear of stage fright.”

Ferguson said that this production was different from others in the past because part of the set is completely stationary.

“We have put a lot of hours into building sets, finding props, adding sounds, and focusing lights,” Ferguson said. “This set is strange in that half of it remains completely stationary throughout the entire two acts. We also have several unique props and costumes including a cow costume, stick horses, Union soldier balloons and a wedding dress.”

All of the scenes take place in Fayro, around the Dubberly residence.

“This production is packed full of hilarious and fun scenes,” Ferguson said. “We have 17 year olds being 77 year olds, a civil war reenactment, a marriage on the way and a marriage on the fritz, a missing dead body, 45 year olds acting like 16 year olds and a huge train wreck of a festival.”

Ferguson, Myrick, Kuykendall and Yirak all said they were very excited for the show and urged everyone to come see it.

“I think people should come see this show because it has something that everyone will enjoy,” Myrick said. “The costumes, the scenes and the lines are all enjoyable. I think people will be able to identify and relate with the characters in the play all while getting a good laugh at the unique performance of each character.”

The cast includes:

Geneva Musgrave – Malea McWest

Honey Raye Futrelle – Jade Burdick

Gina Jo Waverly – Ashley Vanderford

Rhonda Lynn Futrelle – Blaklee Brownd

Twink Futrelle – Makenzie Kuykendall

Frankie Dubberly – Madison Myrick

Dub Dubberly – Josh Collins

Iney Futrelle – Carmen Sitz

Dayva Davidson – Shae Hawthorne

Justin Waverly – Justin Johnson

John Curtis Butner – Tanner McKanna

Raynerd Chisum – Josh Hollis

Buck – Nikki Juarez