Lights, Camera, Action! On Saturday, September 30th, and Sunday, October 1st, the Southeast of Saline drama department performed Rex’s Exes, under the direction of Mr. Anderson.
The play is set in Sweet Gum, Texas, and follows the story of the three Verdeen cousins, Gaynelle (Sherida Johnson), Jimmie Wyvette (Haley Thiel), and Peaches (Addison Gottschalk). Gaynelle, who has recently gone through a divorce, is struggling with the fact that her fiftieth birthday is just around the corner. Jimmie is undergoing the arduous task of starting her own business, Wide Bride. Through this business, Jimmie makes wedding dresses for plus sized women. Peaches has been a widow after the death of her husband Rex (Alex Christensen) for years, but recently she has been seeing visions of him which is starting to trouble her. Peaches also has to worry about the death certificate of Rex, which she has yet to turn into the courthouse. Even with their trials, Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches know that they have each other to lean on no matter what.
Wide Bride is nominated for the Yellow Rose Award for Excellence, a competition for small businesses in the state of Texas. This causes even more stress for Jimmie, who now has to meet and promote her business to the first lady of Texas, the judge of the competition. With the added stress of helping Jimmie prepare for the competition, along with seeing the ghost of Rex, Peaches anxiety is over the top. To help with this, Gaynelle and Jimmie hire their friend, Gentle Harmony (Mara Mondt), who has recently completed a course in psychic awareness, to hypnotize Peaches into not seeing visions of Rex anymore. During the hypnosis, Gaynelle and Jimmie reveal that they too, were once in love with Rex.
After their secret former love for Rex is revealed, Gaynelle and Jimmie find themselves with a furious Peaches. After Peaches kicks Gaynelle and Jimmie out of her house, the real Rex appears in her living room. Rex explains that he hasn’t actually been dead all this time, but instead hiding from bounty hunters who are after him for borrowing money. At first, Peaches is really angry with Rex for lying to her for years, but after a while she calms down and is happy to have her husband back. Gaynelle and Jimmie are just as shocked as Peaches that Rex is back, but not quite as accepting. Because of this, the girls get into a major fight. During their fight their uncle, Aubrey (Austin Hanson), has a heart attack and dies. While preparing for Uncle Aubrey’s funeral, Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches decide that life is too short to fight, especially over Rex, so they make up.
On the day of the funeral, the Verdeen family came together, including crazy Aunt LaMerle (Isabelle Christensen), who is trying to reclaim her title as “Sweet Gum’s most prominent citizen” after being released from jail. In the midst of all the family chaos, Marlissa Crutchfield (Kipra Reed), the third lady of Texas, arrives to judge Wide Bride. Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches, who are not prepared whatsoever, improvise a meeting to promote Wide Bride. Halfway through the impromptu meeting, Wild Bill Boudreaux (Luke Obermeyer), the bounty hunter, shows up looking for Rex. After failing to conceal his identity under one of Jimmie’s wedding dresses, Wild Bill finds Rex and threatens to turn him in. Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches try to reason with Wild Bill to not take Rex. After hearing about Wide Bride and thinking of his own fiance, Wild Bill decides to strike a deal; if Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches catered for his wedding and made a dress for his fiance, then he would not turn Rex in. This deal contained one stipulation though; Peaches must turn in Rex’s death certificate to the courthouse, and Rex must disappear forever. The girls, who have finally accepted the absence of Rex in their lives, gladly take this deal, and Rex leaves for good. Inspired by the crazy events that took place during their meeting, Marlissa announces that Wide Bride is the winner of the Yellow Rose Award for Excellence.
With the meeting successfully over and Rex gone, Gaynelle, Jimmie, and Peaches start the funeral, only to be interrupted by Uncle Aubrey jumping out of his casket. Uncle Aubrey reveals that he never actually died, and his funeral was just a surprise birthday party for Gaynelle. Gaynelle, who has finally accepted the fact that she has turned fifty, is happily surprised with the scheme that Jimmie and Peaches concocted for her big birthday.
Overall, the hours of hard work and dedication that went into the production of Rex’s Exes were well worth it, and the play came together nicely.