Studio Playhouse's next production will be Li'l Abner, to be performed on June 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Auditions will be held on Tuesday, April 3rd and Wednesday, April 4th from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. at LTV Studios, 75 Industrial Road in Wainscott (click here for directions). Please bring sheet music, no acapella. Sides will be provided.

For more information, visit www.studio-playhouse.com or call (631) 537-2777 ext. 122.

Read on for the character breakdown.

LI'L ABNER YOKUM (20’s) is our leading hero. He is a handsome, naive man-child, and the frequent foil for the humor of the play. Abner is a paragon of virtue in a dark and cynical world.

MAMMY YOKUM (50-60’s) is Li'l Abner’s mother, the pint-sized, highly principled, corncob pipe-smoking leader of both the Yokum clan and the town of Dogpatch. She instilled honesty and All-American ideals in Abner. Mammy's lethal right undercut was settled many an argument.

PAPPY YOKUM,(50-60’s) in contrast, is an illiterate and hopeless parasite. He loafs around the house, let’s the women do the work, and teaches Abner all the things a man should know – like fishing.

DAISY MAE SCRAGGS (20’s) is a beautiful Dogpatch damsel hopelessly in love with the bumbling, unappreciative and never amorous Abner. She is every man’s dream, except Abner’s.

MARRYIN' SAM ( 30s & up) is one of the few gainfully employed men in Dogpatch. A preacher who specializes in $2 weddings (but anything is negotiable) he cleans up only once a year--- during the annual Sadie Hawkins Day Race, when slow-footed bachelors are dragged kicking and screaming to the alter by their respective brides-to-be. He is jovial and round.

GENERAL BULLMOOSE (50’s & up) is the epitome of a ruthless capitalist. His motto "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for everybody!" Li'l Abner becomes embroiled in implausible but hilarious adventures with the cold-hearted Bullmoose.

EARTHQUAKE McGOON (20-30’s) bills himself as "the world's dirtiest wrassler." He has always sought the hand of Daisy Mae and comes close to marrying her in the show.

MOONBEAM MCSWINE (20’s) has the most absolutely gorgeous figure in the state but she prefers to live with hogs – they are nicer.

JOE BTFSPLK (any age) is very simply the world's biggest jinx. He walks around with a perpetually dark rain cloud one foot over his head. Once he appears on any scene, dreadfully bad luck befalls anyone in his vicinity; although he is well-meaning and gentle. He is also a character with an apparently unpronounceable name. You pronounce Btfsplk with a "raspberries" sound, also known as a "Bronx cheer."

EVIL-EYE FLEEGLE (any age) had a unique and terrifying skill. When he concentrated, destructive rays emitted from his eyeballs. An ordinary "whammy" could knock a grown man senseless. A "double whammy" could fell a skyscraper, leaving Evil-Eye exhausted. Evil-Eye Fleegle is not a native of Dogpatch. He is in fact from Brooklyn NY; who knows how he got to the county where Dogpatch lies.

STUPEFYIN' JONES (20-30’s) is so drop-dead gorgeous that men who see her literally freeze in their tracks; without speaking or singing a single line!

SENATOR JACK S. PHOGBOUND  is the skewed archetype of a filibustering southern politician. He is corrupt, a conspiratorial blowhard. He spends a disproportionate amount of his time campaigning in Dogpatch, which makes no sense for no one ever votes.

DOGPATCH exceeded every stereotype of Appalachia. The hillbillies in Dogpatch were poorer than poor. The houses were hopelessly ramshackle. Most Dogpatchers were dumber than dumb. The remainder were scoundrels and thieves. Most of the menfolk were too lazy to work, yet Dogpatch women were naïve enough to chase them.  This musical existed long before "political correctness" entered our vocabulary, In the midst of the Great Depression, the hardscrabble residents of lowly Dogpatch allowed suffering Americans to laugh at yokels even worse off than they were. To old friends, the denizens of Dogpatch will be old friends.