Who can picture a more sympathetic cast of characters than the inhabitants of a rural whorehouse in 1970s Texas? These women, relying on their wiles (and their bodies) to make ends meet underneath cowboys, roughnecks, and college football players. These women who live in this liminal state, between the reality of human desire and the strictures of Southern zealotry. Who will protect them?

As it turns out, no one, really.

The story centers on the fate of an infamous, but secretive, whorehouse called the Chicken Ranch on the outskirts of Gilbert, Texas. Having been in business long past living memory, the Chicken Ranch is something of a staple in the community, for better or for worse. Despite a caterwauling cast of characters and a swirl of plotlines, one can assume the relationship between the Gilbert sheriff Ed Earl Dodd and the house madam Miss Mona is the linchpin. It rises, falls, and resolves along with the existence of the whorehouse itself.

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” is an ambitious show. There are half a dozen character arcs from new gals (Angel and Shy) learning the ropes, to a depressed waitress pining for sensuality, to a bible-thumping television personality, to a ready-to-hang-up-the-six-shooters, hot-headed sheriff. The bible thumper, Melvin P. Thorpe, provides our villain — the man raining on the parade as he shapes the world in his made-for-TV Christian image. His crusade to shut down the Chicken Ranch drives the plot toward it’s inevitable climax.

A clear, shining win for the performance is the script, which is full of little aphorisms that bring the cheeky South alive:

“You’re going to get me to cryin’, and I done retired from it.”

“Quicker’n goose shit runs through a tin horn!”

“From hell to breakfast!” or “From hell to Georgia!”

I wrote them down in my notebook to use in work meetings as a way to get my point across when standard corporate-speak wouldn’t suffice.

If you’re a fan of the Dolly Parton movie with Burt Reynolds, you might find much to enjoy about the show. The plotline is familiar and the costumes, set, and energy are all just right.

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” runs now through April 7 at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater.

John David Back is a Cincinnati native who lives and works in OTR. He’s an avid reader and a mediocre writer who loves the experience of art and beauty. Tell him what he should experience and send fan mail to johndavidback@gmail.com.