The Tryon Little Theater has announced auditions for its 2018-2019 season opener, Alfred Uhry’s Tony Award winning “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” part of Uhry’s trilogy, which also contains the Pulitzer Prize winning “Driving Miss Daisy.”  

Director Carol Cox has set auditions for 3 p.m. Sunday, July 22, and 7 p.m. Monday, July 23, at TLT’s Workshop, 516 S. Trade St., Tryon. There are roles for four woman and three men, ranging in age from 20 to 60 years old.

As with “Daisy,” “Ballyhoo” is set in Atlanta, Georgia — this time in December 1939.  

“Gone with the Wind” is having its world premiere and Hitler is invading Poland, but Atlanta’s elitist German Jews are much more concerned with who is going to Ballyhoo, the social event of the season. Family members get pulled apart and then mended together, with plenty of comedy, romance and revelations along the way, producers said. 

The Freitags are a Jewish family so highly assimilated they have a Christmas tree in the front parlor. They are looking forward to Ballyhoo, a lavish cotillion ball sponsored by their restrictive county club.  Though familiar with prejudice, they are faced with its existence within their own religious community, something that the younger members of the family question.

Scripts of “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” are available for 24-hour check-out at The Book Shelf, 94 N. Trade St., Tryon.

Production dates at the workshop are Sept. 20-23 and 27-30.

– Submitted by

Connie Clark