Aaron Pelzek, Andy Smith, and Kimi Maeda The deviled eggs were laid out, the beer in the cooler and the relatives in fine form for "Larry's Family Reunion." The Nickelodeon fundraiser was held last weekend to raise funds for the theater's move down Main Street to the Fox Theater. For the occasion, executive director Larry Hembree wrote a play featuring all the relatives he would have wanted at his own family reunions.

Reunion- goers fanned themselves with white paper plates while a parade of Columbia singers, dancers, and comedians portrayed Hembree's fictional and dysfunctional kin folk in a series of songs and monologues. Dressed in a t- shirt and jeans, Hembree started the evening with a group sing that went "If you think your kin are weirdos, just you wait 'til you meet mine!"

Some of his more outrageous relatives included the karaoke- loving first cousin Evelyn Apple, portrayed by singer Kim Harne, who sang "We Are Family" while sporting her trademark purple cowboy boots. Later in the evening Hembree's father's sister's daughter Peaches Seymour, sung by local opera singer Whitney Vance, charmed the audience with "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" complete with denim mini- skirt, blonde bouffant, and chewing gum.

Larry Hambree and Matthew Dequire The event, which ran June 12 and 13 in the lobby of the Fox Theater, sold out both evenings with a total of 320 tickets. Hembree estimated that the Nickelodeon raised $9,400, exceeding their goal by $400.

"We said if we made $9,000 we'd be hugely successful," Hembree said. "So we were over hugely successful!"

Hembree hopes to make "Larry's Family Reunion" an annual tradition with even more bizarre and hilarious relatives.

"Everybody wants to do it again next year," he said. "It served its purpose to get people in the building. It was great to see people have such a good time. It was super exciting for us."

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