Hazard County, the main stage play at Kitchen Dog Theatre’s Seventh Annual New Works Festival, has SMU written all over it.

SMU alums are everywhere in the play. From the writer to the director to two of the cast members this play makes SMU proud.

Hazard County tells the story of racism and life in a small Southern town in Kentucky through various forms of theatrical media.

The play focuses on a widow, Ruth, played by SMU alum Erin Ryan Burdette, and her encounter with a reality television producer, Blake, played by Derik Webb.

Blake sweeps into town looking for a story to shoot him into primetime television news, when he stumbles across Ruth and her friend Camille, played by Diane Worman.

Also in the play is SMU alum Leah Spillman, who plays Ruth’s playful daughter, Quintin. She also plays other characters, each of whom gives monologues on the societal impact of the “Dukes of Hazard.”

Tina Parker, another SMU alum, directs the ensemble in a way that not only engages the audience, but moves the audience as well.

The story seems predictable at first with the whole guy-meets-girl guy-saves-girl scenario, but the story becomes less cliché towards the end. The end will always leave the audience members wondering. The play presents a social conflict and leaves it up to the audience to decide for themselves how the conflict should be resolved.

The play transverses time and place by having character monologues interspersed throughout the play.

For example, Spillman goes from being Ruth’s daughter to Cherilynne, a character who dissects the entertainment aspect of the “Dukes of Hazard.” Various scenes from the “Dukes of Hazard” are also shown throughout the play.

By showing scenes from the “Dukes of Hazard,” rural life in the American south is epitomized.

Hazard County is written by SMU alum Allison Moore. This is her fifth and most recent play which first debuted at the 2005 Humana Festival at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Moore currently holds awards from Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowships, the McKnight Advancement Grant and the Iowa Arts Fellowship, amongst others.

Hazard County will be held at the MAC until June 18. Please check out www.kitchendogtheatre.org for tickets and show times.

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