It’s Hee-Haw Y’all!

The hit TV show from the 70s is a perfect vehicle for the Young People’s Theater Workshop to perform for their 2013 show. Hee-Haw could be seen every Saturday evening. The show was filled with short skits, music and lots of laughs based on country music and southern culture. It couldn’t be any better. If a kid forgets his lines, it will actually be more like the original show.

About 36 kids have taken classes in choreography, costuming, make-up and acting. They auditioned for their parts and have studied their lines for several weeks.

“I look forward to it each summer, to see how much they grow in their abilities and stage presence from year to year,” said workshop director Codie Vasquez. “It’s also just as fun getting new kids, being there for their first experience on stage.”

Some of your favorite characters from the show will be represented. Junior Samples will be played by Tristen Anding. Roy Clark and Buck Owens characters will be represented by Chase Courtier and Marcus Delarosa. Don’t forget Grandpa. He will be played by Jonah Courtier. Carissa Slaughter will be Minnie Pearl. Blake Klingaman will portray the Hee-Haw donkey.

There will also be guest stars. Abigail Noah will be Loretta Lynn. Dolly Parton will be played by Emily Daigle. The Mandrel Sisters will also be represented by Whitley Hoyland, Lila Reynolds and Adriana Francis.

“Gloom, Despair and Agony, Oh Me,” and “Where are you tonight?” are just a few of the bits incorporated, plus the gossip girls.

“We’re also going to have a house band on stage made up of some of the parents,” said Vasquez. “They’re playing a fiddle, banjo, guitar and piano.”

Many years the production takes on a variety show format that has to be written, choreographed and staged by the workshop director and volunteers.

“It’s the only way we have found effective for the kids to get the whole experience; the acting, the dancing, the singing; to give each kid a shining moment. To find a script that will give 36 kids equal stage time, that’s already pre-written, is next to impossible. Variety shows are the best way to do that,” said Vasquez.

“I loved doing “Alice in Wonderland” and having them experience a full theatrical production, but if you are not a lead character, you sit and wait most of the time.”

“It’s Hee-Haw Y’all” begins Thursday and runs through Sunday. The curtain rises at 7:37 p.m., July 11-13 and at 2:37 p.m. July 14.

“its great family entertainment; something to do with your kids,” said Vasquez.

“What I like to pride myself and the whole committee on is people tend to go with low expectations because they expect a school play kinda thing and for the most part, our audiences walk out genuinely entertained and surprised at the production the kids put on. You’ll be entertained even if you don’t have a kid in the show.”

Tickets are $5. Call (409) 882-9137 for reservations.

The Orange Community Players Theater is located at 708 W. Division Ave. in Orange.