The Miss Firecracker contest: A play

by Beth Henley

Twenty-four-year-old Carnelle is entering Brookhaven’s annual beauty pageant, in hopes that it will help her tarnished reputation. Carnelle enlists half-blind seamstress Popeye to help her efforts. Meanwhile, Carnelle’s cousins, Elain and Delmont, are forced to come to terms with their late mother’s legacy, against their own desires. Beth Henley’s signature messy characters fit imperfectly into tragi-comic portraits of the American South.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Southern, School, Read For School, Fiction

78 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Elizabeth Becker "Beth" Henley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a nomination for a Tony Award.

Reviews

[AR · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was fun! I’d love to see a production of this someday.

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned the opening scene in this play for my Acting class so it made sense to me to read the entire play. As someone who does not read straight plays often, I found this one to be entertaining and engaging. I was not bored reading it.

Some down sides would be that I feel that the Carnelle and Mac Sam relationship was not as strong or as important as it was trying to be. I also think this play has many cliches of other plays such as a character that was in an insane asylum and characters saying that they hate other characters when they were just talking about how great they were lines before.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Henley is so underappreciated as a playwright. Her most famous work, the Pulitzer Prize winner "Crimes of the Heart" is just a flat-out great, well-made play, and this one is a close second--definitely a little weirder and a little more difuse in its plot and themes but with the same Southern Gothic charm.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny. Sad. Well-developed characters. Illustrative. Good story. I liked the ending.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. The writing absolutely demands a Southern accent, which I appreciate.

[Sofie Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and funny while also tastefully capturing the psychological realism of contemporary theatre!

[Hannah F · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s.. definitely a play! Doing a scene from this for class so I had to read it and boy is it badly written.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would like this play more since it is Beth Henley and set in my Mom's hometown of Brookhaven, MS. The characters were really quirky, but in a sad, lost-all-hope way. I'd hoped the play would be more uplifting. As with any play, it's meant to be performed, so maybe it would be more fun to watch. Although, I did see the movie many years ago and didn't think much of it. I didn't even recall the plot.

[Bt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it was just ok. I didn't love it, though I think the message is pretty good (you don't have to get affirmation from other people because that will always fail; you need to find it in yourself). There wasn't much in the way of monologues or scenes for practice work because there are a lot of character.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure I would have liked this nearly as well if I hadn't first seen the movie. But then, of course, a play is meant to be performed. It's a beautiful story about a young woman who is trying to rise above her past, and who succeeds, though not in the way she had planned.

[Augusta Jane]

I have not read this bok, but I LOVE THE MOVIE! It is so sad at the end though

[Mimi · Rating 1 out of 5]

To this day, I still don't understand why this book was assigned reading. If there is anyone out there who can explain how this book is good teaching material, please help me understand.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, quirky play.

[Glynnis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LANDED THE PART!!!!

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mild racism aside, the second act is neither as focused nor as humorous as the first. As with any zany antics play, I'm sure it performs better than it reads.

[Whitney]

Blugh.

[J.N. Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

can't wait til i get to direct a scene from this play, so hilarious!