CONWAY — Just two characters will take the stage in the Conway Community Arts Association’s next production at The Lantern Theatre in downtown Conway. Those characters — Manley Carstairs and Annie Dankworth — will come to life in The Housekeeper, by James Prideaux.
The comedy will open at 7:30 p.m. Friday under the direction of Elizabeth Williams of Conway, who graduated from Hendrix College in 2013 with a degree in theater and is secretary of the CCAA Board of Directors. Williams last appeared in the CCAA production of Almost, Maine.
Additional performances of The Housekeeper will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and at 2:30 p.m.
Aug. 7, as well as at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11-13 and at 2:30 pm. Aug. 14. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased online at conwayarts.org.
“Manley is an eccentric writer … an agoraphobic,” said Williams, who is making her directorial debut with The Housekeeper. “His overbearing mother has died and left him alone in this big old house. He needs a housekeeper.
“He hires Annie, but soon learns she has her quirky ways. … She turns out to be quite a handful,” Williams said. “She starts to flirt with him, hoping to ensure her job. She is really quite a con artist.
“It’s really quite funny.”
The Housekeeper debuted in 1983 at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut and starred Cloris Leachman, star of stage, film and TV, and Noel Harrison, son of Rex Harrison and a veteran of theater, films, TV and nightclubs.
Shane Atkinson of Morrilton plays the part of Manley, and Savannah Porter of
Conway portrays Annie.
“He’s verbose,” Atkinson said of his character. “He has a list of $10 words and is going to use every one of them. He is a published author. … At least he has printed and sold one
or two.”
Atkinson first appeared in a CCAA production in 2015 when he was part of the cast of Moonlight and Magnolias. He has been a supporter of the Rialto Players in Morrilton for several years, in both acting and directing roles.
Atkinson works in the information technology department at L’Oreal in North Little Rock.
Porter said she had never heard of The Housekeeper until she saw the audition notice for the play.
“Here Manley is … in that big old 17-room house all by himself, and he hires Annie to be is housekeeper,” Porter said as she explained the plot of the upcoming play.
“He gets more than he’s bargained for,” she said, laughing. “She’s padded her resume
heavily, … not quite as advertised. He tries to kick her out, but she refuses to leave.
“This is a comedy … a farce, really. It has two people in an impossible and ridiculous situation, and mayhem ensues.”
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Porter graduated from Murray State University in Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She later attended the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton and received an Associate of Applied Science degree in business; she is now an administrative assistant
and digital archivist in the
UACCM Computer Sciences Department.
She previously was in CCAA’s production of Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage and The Laramie Project.
Members of the crew for The Housekeeper are Chris Williams of Conway, props mistress; Trent Reese of Conway, costumes and lighting design; and Shua Miller and Tom McLeod, set design. Miller is also assisting with fight choreography.
“It’s more Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges fighting,” Porter said. “But you can get hurt if you don’t know what you’re doing.”