With the 61st year of Summer Mummers under way at Midland's Yucca Theatre, once again it's time for local theatergoers to put the kids to bed before heading out for an evening of melodramatic, popcorn-throwing, beer-filled mayhem.

Of course, y'all might also want to lower your brows a bit before you go.

If it's high society you're looking for, this ain't it.

During an intermission of this year's second performance on opening weekend, a man mysteriously wearing swimming goggles in a packed men's restroom perhaps captured the essence of Summer Mummers.

With a Bostonian accent reminiscent of John F. Kennedy and a parody of the late president's 1962 space exploration speech, the man cleared his throat and addressed the audience, most of whom were busy and facing the wall with their backs to him.
"Men," he said, "there will be salt and there will be butter ..."

A few chuckles.

"We chose to take kernels in the face not because it is easy," he continued with a spot-on Kennedy voice, "but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept."

Laughter ensued, toilets flushed, the man's back was patted, and the melodrama commenced on the stage again amid a blizzard of flying popcorn and quick one-liners both on and off stage.

"Booooooo!" the audience yelled each time the antagonist plotted and schemed.

A layer of fallen popcorn thickened on the theater's floor, inch by crunchy inch.

This year's show, "Bodyslammed Among the Bovines," is a moving investigation into the intricacies and politics of professional wrestling in West Texas.

It all begins as Leaky Showers, owner of the prestigious West Texas Fighting (W.T.F.) league, prepares to step down and hand the organization over to his daughter April.

But evil lurks by way of world wrestling champion Baron Von Rashly, a low-down Odessan who cheated his way to the top and now plans to steal the Showers' wrestling legacy through tactics by no means fair.
Shenanigans and hijinks ensue, and a downtown Midland building even ends up demolished at the hands of the remorseless Von Rashly.

Fortunately for Tall City citizens, a hero emerges in the form of an Aggie - that's right, the protagonist of this show is a graduate of Texas A&M University's wrestling school. 

He defeats the dastardly Von Rashly - but for just how he does it, you'll have to go see for yourself.
Cody Tumlin, the director of this year's Summer Mummers production, has been involved with the seasonal show in one capacity or another for eight years. He said the show draws crowds totaling about 10,000 people each summer.
He said he liked the script for "Bodyslammed Among the Bovines," which was written by his close personal friend Justin Tate, because it had all the key Mummer-style ingredients.

"The one thing that really stood out to me about the script is that it was really constructed in the Mummers style," the director said. "It didn't deviate from that formula that has really worked for us for 60 years."

When asked to define the "Mummers" style, however, Tumlin said it's what they in theater circles call "drive-by" comedy.
"It's very hard to describe," Tumlin said. "It can't be explained; it has to be experienced."

He said the 60-plus years of success for the summer show stems from its national notoriety as the longest running melodrama in the country, from the escape it offers audiences and from its appeal through familiar - or, in other words, its local - cast and characters.

"I think the community really sort of gets into that, that local stardom kind of feel," Tumlin said. "It's something they can connect with, and they enjoy coming to see their favorites on stage."

IF YOU GO
>> What: Summer Mummers presents ‘Bodyslammed Among the Bovines.'
>> When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 5 (curtain time is 7 p.m. on July 4).
>> Where: Yucca Theatre, 208 N. Colorado St., Midland.
>> Who: Recommended for age 16 years and older.
>> Tickets: $20 pit; $15 house; $10 balcony.

ON THE NET
>> www.summermummers.com
>> www.mctmidland.com