In case you didn't know, "Doublewide" is a fictitious unincorporated town in Texas, population 10, and named for the proliferation of doublewide trailers of the citizenry.
In this iteration of the franchise by Jessie Jones, Jamie Wooten, and Nicholas Hope -- A Doublewide, Texas Christmas --the town's eccentric inhabitants try against the odds to raise funds, increase the population, and submit legal paperwork for incorporation before a Christmas deadline to avoid being subsumed by a larger rival community.
The improbability of the plot points and antics of the assorted residents hardly matter; audiences are simply along for a silly and mostly predictable ride over the play's two acts. -- The production could benefit from quicker scene changes and more clarity in spoken dialogue.
Director Susan Chain has assembled an ensemble of Millbrook and other River Region actors who valiantly bring the familiarity of small-town Texas to unconventional and all-too-familiar life. Ginger Collum, Kisti Taylor, Ashlee Lassiter, John Chain, Pat McClelland, Bill Rauch, Marcella Willis, Margaret White, and [in the night I saw it] Michael Snead play the script's broadly comic scenes to the hilt, and deliver some sensitive moments as well.
Despite their characters' inflated egos, family strife, political haranguing, attempts at oneupmanship, deliberate sabotage, faux celebrity, and chaotic resolutions, the ending stresses the theme of the inherent good will of Doublewide's populace, their ability to respectfully settle their differences, and their camaraderie in working together for a worthy cause that will leave a warm spot in the hearts of Millbrook's theatregoers this Christmas Season.
