Oxford Film Festival Hosts Mississippi Table Read, Featuring BEULAH, Today

The Oxford Film Festival has announced working with the Mississippi Film Office, MFVA and OxFilm to host the third Mississippi Table Read today, February 20 at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center. The free program begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception followed by Table Read Mississippi at 6 p.m.

The featured script will be Beulah, written for the screen by Gail Gilchriest (My Dog Skip) based on the novel Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church written by the late Clayton Sullivan, professor of religion at the University of Southern Mississippi.

A table read is a gathering of actors around a table to read a script aloud to give filmmakers, producers, and writers an idea of how the final production will sound. It is a valuable tool in the creative process, because it can ensure that a scene actually plays well using real actors and conveys the intended message to the audience.

The film will be produced in Mississippi by New Albany native Hudson Hickman, who is the former VP of TV production at MGM. Hickman has a long career serving as producer of popular television shows including; The Love Boat, MacGyver, and Stargate. The film will be directed by Steve Herek whose work includes "Critters," "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" "101 Dalmatians," "Mr. Holland's Opus" and more. Both will be in attendance to hear local actors read the script.

The cast includes:
ELISE FYKE - Young Female - Beulah
GREG EARNEST- Mid 30s-40s Male - Ralph
BILL DABNEY - Mid 30s-40s Male - Henry
RORY LEDBETTER - Male - Sumrall
MEG BURKE - Female Young but older than Beulah - Velma/Sadie/Ralph's Mother/
JOHNNY MCPHAIL - Older Male - Sgt Bowie Fisher/Brother Fike/Arnold Buchanan (Beulah's Father)
SUSAN MCPHAIL - Older Female - Jospehine (Beulah's Mother)/Livinia/Female Voice/Woman
DETRA PAYNE - Female - Earline (Beulah's Sister)/Aunt Carrie/Coroner/Wife
JEREMY COOPER - Young Male - Oscar (Ralph's son)/Teenaged Boy/Guy/Patrolman/Charlie
CALEB STOKES- Male - Uncle Samuel/Jaspar/Man/Business Man/Brother Claypool

For all of the festival's events, visit 2013oxfordfilmfestival.sched.org. Also visit www.oxfordfilmfest.com to buy tickets for the festival.