Southern sparks flying in PACT's 'Breath of Dusty Air'

The Port Aransas Community Theater (PACT) production, "A Breath of Dusty Air," opened Thursday, April 10, at the PACT, 2327 State Hwy. 361. Performances will continue through the rest of the month. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, April 17-19, and April 24 and 26.

A matinee performance will be presented on Sunday, April 27, at 2:30 p.m.

No performance will be presented on Friday, April 25, so that members and patrons may participate in the Relay For Life event at Roberts Point Park.

Tickets, $15 for adults and $10 for children under 18, may be purchased at the Chamber of Commerce during business hours Monday through Wednesday, and at the PACT box office Thursday and Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The play, written by Perry Steele Patton, is set in a Continental Trailways bus stop and diner in Mammoth Spring, Ark., and takes place on one hot, dusty summer weekend in the present.

Former beauty queen Ima Jean Walker returns to her hometown of Mammoth Spring, after a 20 year absence, self-assured of winning a local contest she believes will finally jumpstart a country music career. Tempers flare and Southern sparks fly when her now-famous high school rival appears on the scene and upsets Ima Jean's unfulfilled dreams of stardom.

"A Breath of Dusty Air" is a story of loss, longing and never forgotten dreams. Voices from our past sit on our shoulder and never go away, regardless of the passing of time, always there to remind us of journeys taken, journeys we wish we'd taken and journeys best not taken, according to a PACT spokesman.

Ima Jean Walker is played by Connie Beane, Charlotte Mae Powell by Ginny Shaw, Eva Jo Young by Misty Hamm, Daddy Walker by Jason Jett and Del Barnett by Michael Cristian. Alan Gardner-Atkinson directs, and the set design and construction are by Gardner-Atkinson and Ken Bynum.