New Christmas Play Premieres in Western Kentucky

A new Christmas-themed work by award-winning playwright Leslie Kimbell will make its world premiere on a western Kentucky community theater stage Friday night.

Mayfield’s Purchase Players Community Performing Arts Center stages “The Four Old Broads Christmas Extravaganza” during the frist two weekends of December. This play is the fourth in a series by Kimbell that follows the comedic adventures of four women living in an assisted living facility.

The first “Four Old Broads” show won two theatre festivals in South Carolina and Texas in 2016.

Purchase players previously produced two other shows in the “Four Old Broads” series, including “The Miss Magnolia Senior Citizen Beauty Pageant” last year.Kimbell said an actor sent “persistent” emails inviting her to attend the Purchase Players’ performance.

Kimbell, who lives in Athens, Georgia, typically does not travel far to see productions of her plays. However, she decided to visit Mayfield for a girls’ weekend, as she had only seen “The Miss Magnolia senior Citizen Beauty Pageant” once at its world premiere.

“I was so impressed by the theatre,the show’s production,and everything they put into it – from the acting and direction to the costuming,lighting,and sound,” Kimbell said. “I also felt moved by the story of Mayfield and the 2021 tornado, and how the theatre survived when everything around it was destroyed.”

Kimbell completed a draft of “The Four Old Broads Christmas Extravaganza” earlier this year.