‘Miss Daisy’ drives for laughs, hopeful message

Anyone with a heartbeat ought to enjoy the Hill Country Community Theatre’s current production of “Driving Miss Daisy.” 

Director Glen Bird has assembled an outstanding cast for the beloved comedy, which can impose quite a burden on the shoulders of only three actors. 

However, Burnet residents Sally Stemac as Miss Daisy Werthan, Anson Hahn as her son Boolie and Austin resident Robert King Jr. as Hoke carry themselves comfortably in the Alfred Uhry play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987 and served as the basis for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “Best Picture” for 1989. 

And thankfully, each player in the HCCT version of “Miss Daisy” projects his or her voice well and renders regional accents and dialects in a realistic fashion. 

Through a swift series of scenes braced by subtle sound effects, the play strives to demonstrate how people from different economic and social circumstances can live peaceably together. 

The piece is an affirmative answer to the question “Can’t we all get along?” unemployed construction worker Rodney King asked immediately after the agony of the racially charged Los Angeles riots of 1992. 

“Daisy” begins 60 years ago in the grand old Southern city of Atlanta, where Boolie is a wealthy businessman. His widowed-mother Daisy has turned 72 and can no longer drive safely on her own to the Piggly Wiggly grocery market or to the local Jewish reform temple where she faithfully attends services. 

Against her wishes, Boolie hires a chauffeur for his “high-strung” mother from an applicant pool of “colored men,” that being the polite phrase of the period for mature African-American males. 

Hoke gratefully accepts the job for $20 a week, even though some friends have told him Jewish people are “stingy and they cheat.” 

“Don’t say none of that round me,” Hoke says during his interview with Boolie. 

However, Daisy is a proud and independent woman, and she bristles loudly as Boolie attempts to stabilize her life through Hoke. 

Daisy insists she bears no prejudice against blacks. Nevertheless, she guesses Boolie is paying Hoke too much money to serve as her driver. 

“Anything over $7 a week is highway robbery,” Daisy tells her son. 

“Momma, you’re a doodle,” Boolie tells Daisy. 

As Hoke dutifully drives Daisy through Atlanta, she badgers him from the back seat over how fast he should drive and where he should drive. 

“Miss Daisy, you need a chauffeur, and Lord knows, I need a job, and let’s just leave it that,” Hoke says in exasperation. 

While each of the characters learn to cope with one another, there are several more humorous situations and dialogue embedded in “Daisy.” 

Still, the story avoids sentimentality. As the script drives through the tumult of the 1960s Civil Rights movement, the characters refer to hideous incidents of anti-Semitism, racial discrimination and lynching. 

Yet, at no point does “Daisy” try to choke collective guilt out of the audience. 

“It’s never heavy-handed,” Bird told The Daily Tribune after the matinee Nov. 16. “We’re moved by the characters, because we enjoy being with them for an hour and a half.” 

“Daisy” moves gracefully through each scene with convincing props and sets that depict a car, a pasture, a living room, an office, a garden, Christmas lights and the entrance to the Piggly Wiggly, where a gallon of milk costs 12 cents and a dozen eggs are 25 cents. An earlier-than-usual intermission after just 30 minutes of playtime adds a relaxed element to the show. 

The play concludes with a silent, poignant moment best reserved for future ticket holders to behold.

“Driving Miss Daisy” continues 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday with a final performance scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Sunday at the theater, 4003 FM 2147. For tickets, call (830) 798-8944 or visit www.hcct.org. 

raymond@thepicayune.com

Photo by Raymond V. Whelan