THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604100100
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AHOSKIE LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
If you're crazy about ``Daisy'' - or if you'd like to find out what this seeming love affair is all about - set aside a couple of hours between Thursday and Sunday for an outing to The Gallery Theater.
``Driving Miss Daisy,'' the comedy drama that won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Academy Award, is being staged there.
The story tells of the unlikely relationship between a crotchety Southern lady and a proud, soft-spoken, black man. Over a period of 25 years, they realize they have more in common than they first believed. They become best friends.
The warmhearted, gently humorous Alfred Uhry play began life off-Broadway, then went on screen with Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd.
Local cast members are Julie Shields in the title role and Tony Babb as her son, Boolie. The chauffeur, Hoke, is portrayed by 17-year-old Willie Bell, whose name will ring a bell in Gates County. He has appeared in several Gates County High School productions, but, he said, ``this is different from those plays - more pressure here.''
Barbara Toti, his drama director, ``strongly suggested I go out for this,'' Bell said. ``She said I'd be good in the role.''
``I'm nothing like the part I play. He's softspoken, intelligent and old. I'm energetic and loud.''
Bell's director at the Gallery, Jim Ivey, is laid back.
He comes in from Roanoke Rapids for his Ahoskie directorial debut.
``I saw the children's theater last summer and told the people here that I'd like to do this particular show,'' he said. ``I liked the movie and thought the play would be fun to do.''
Directing is old hat for Ivey who, most recently, directed ``Diary Of Anne Frank'' and ``The Foreigner'' in his hometown. As an actor, he appeared in such plays as ``Annie Get Your Gun'' and ``To Kill a Mockingbird.''
A 50-year-old bachelor who has owned Roanoke Rapids Floral for more than 20 years, he enjoys both acting and directing but prefers the latter, ``because,'' he said, ``I can look forward to seeing the final product. I like to see a production evolve from audition to opening night.''
Babb is looking forward to the second opening night of his amateur theatrical career.
The performer, who looks like a cross between character actors Gerald McRaney and David Ogden Stiers, became involved in theater last year when he came to the Gallery with his sister-in-law who was auditioning for a role in ``Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.''
``They asked me to audition. I got a part,'' said Babb, who lives in St. John and is a warehouse foreman for Georgia Pacific Corp. in Conway. ``The showbusiness bug bit.
``I like this show. It doesn't have a big social agenda,'' he said. ``This is a homey Southern piece. It's like I remember when I was growing up. I knew people like all three in this play.''
It is also hit-home for Shields.
``I have some Jewish heritage,'' she said, ``so I can compare Miss Daisy with my grandmother and aunts.''
Shields, 38, an Ahoskie native who teaches second grade at Ahoskie Graded School, performed often at the Gallery when she was a child.
``I came back,'' she said, ``because I always wanted to do this part.'' MEMO: AT A GLANCE
What: ``Driving Miss Daisy''
When: 8 p.m. April 18 to 20; 2:30 p.m. April 21
Where: The Gallery Theatre, 115 W. Main St., Ahoskie
Tickets: Adult, $7 in advance, $8 at door; Student, $5 and $6. At
box office or Chamber of Commerce, Main Street. Group rates available.
Call: (919) 332-2976 ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Willie Bell, 17, plays Hoke, the chauffeur; and Julie Shields, 38,
plays the title role in ``Driving Miss Daisy'' at The Gallery
Theater.
by CNB