‘The Pin-Up Girls’ dance & sing into Carey Dinner Theater’s 47th season

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - Carey Dinner Theatre will open its 47th season this summer with “The Pin-Up Girls,” a musical love letter featuring songs from World War I to Afghanistan.

Performances will run Tuesdays through Saturdays from July 6-22 in the Joe & Virginia Tatum Theatre on William Carey University’s Hattiesburg campus. Cast members will serve dinner before the show at 6:30 p.m.

“The Pin-Up Girls” is a collaboration between playwright James Hindman and composer Jeffrey Lodin.

In the play, Leanna and her friends are singing at a local VFW when they find a collection of letters and photos from soldiers that cover over a hundred years. The girls perform a cavalcade of hits inspired by what they find, and their performances are filled with humor and heartbreak, laughter and nostalgia.

The emotions of airmen, sailors and soldiers overseas mingled with their loved ones left at home, are brought to life with songs like “You Made Me Love You,” “Please Mr. Postman,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “These Boots Were Made for Walking” and “Single Ladies.”

Tim Matheny, chair of the WCU Theatre & Communication Department, is the director of the production.

“It is always a positive experience when students are introduced to a wide variety of musical genres, but when it relates to war, it is especially funny, romantic and heartbreaking,” Matheny said.

Other staff members include:

• Musical Director - Tae Young Hong (WCU’s Winters School of Music)
• Choreographer - Hadley Howell (coordinator of the Lucky Day Scholarship program at Mississippi State University)
• Scenic Designer/Technical Director - Cody Stockstill (freelance designer, formerly of the University of Mississippi’s theatre department)
• Lighting Designer - Bronwyn Teague (Mississippi University for Women theater faculty)
• Costume Designer - Taylor Busch (University of Southern Mississippi graduate)

The box office opens Monday, June 26. It will be staffed Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Tickets are $35 and include the show, buffet and sales tax. For reservations, call (601) 318-6221.

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