Texas-sized Comedy

There’s something disturbing about small towns. Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Children of the Corn, or any number of horror films. (Sure, people sometimes hate on big cities as if evil lurks behind every tall latte at Starbucks — but that’s a totally different kind of evil.) Yet what makes hillbilly...

By Erica K. Landau

January 21, 2010

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There’s something disturbing about small towns. Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Children of the Corn, or any number of horror films. (Sure, people sometimes hate on big cities as if evil lurks behind every tall latte at Starbucks — but that’s a totally different kind of evil.) Yet what makes hillbilly hideouts scary also makes them good for laughs. Sordid Lives, an award-winning dark comedy by Del Shores, follows a family after the death of the matriarch, Peggy. “A good Christian woman,” Peggy is found after bleeding to death in her neighbor’s/younger lover’s motel room — after tripping over his wooden legs. The family, which includes a slew of colorful characters, comes back to Winters, Texas, for the funeral. What ensues has made Sordid Lives a cult classic among many in the South as it was adapted for film and is also a series on the LGBT network Logo. Catch Sordid Lives at Rising Action Theatre (840 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park) Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. or Sunday at 7 p.m. through February 21. Admission costs $35. Call 954-561-2225, or visit risingactiontheatre.com.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 24, 7 p.m. Starts: Jan. 23. Continues through Feb. 21, 2010

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