Playwright Topher Payne (bottom right) sits with the cast of 'The Attala County Garden Club.'
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JIMMY HILBURN
| 3.1.2006
 
IF YOU'RE A REGULAR David reader, then you know Topher Payne's face, with the quirky wit with which he chronicles his trials and tribulations as a twenty-something gay man living in Atlanta in his column Maybe It's Just Me.
But, if you knew what else is on Payne's plate, you'd be amazed he has any time to reflect on his life, let alone laugh about it. Just for starters, the month of March sees the world premiere of a play Payne wrote at Onstage Atlanta, his acting in another play across town, and his set designs for yet another play.
And as the life of a playwright/ actor/columnist goes, he still finds time to squeeze in the proverbial day job - restaurant managing at Metro Fresh, the new Midtown café owned by fellow thespian Mitchell Anderson.
Payne's newest script, "The Attala County Garden Club" marks a unique milestone. After more than half a dozen plays - including productions in Atlanta and New York - he is finally setting this one in his hometown of Kosciusko, Miss., at the time of his childhood.
Payne describes "Attala" as a comic thriller that is "Steel Magnolias meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Be prepared for an evening of ruthless social climbing, cryptic spells and rituals, and, of course, handy gardening tips.
In the small-town setting, a woman named Rose has only one avenue to the top tier of society: Membership in the City Garden Club. When Rose is shunned by the club, she has no choice but to join the less esteemed Attala County Garden Club, where a bevy of scorned women engage in witchcraft to exact their revenge.
Rest assured, all the witchcraft is "witch-approved," according to Payne.
"I talked to several witches," he says. "I had a friend who hooked me up, because I didn't want it to be like an episode of 'Charmed.'"
GROWING UP IN KOSCIUSKO, mixed with adolescent and teen years in New England and California boarding schools, definitely gave Payne a unique perspective. He found the South to be a fount of source material for his writing.
"Southerners are more interesting than other Americans," Payne says, "because we have the gift of gab. Storytelling is part of our culture. You always have the person that is elected to tell every family story. 'No, no, no, you have to hear Mary Ellen tell it. She tells it better.'
"Southerners have such a casual relationship with the truth," he adds. "What happened isn't as important as the story that comes out of it later."
Let's hope Oprah Winfrey doesn't hear him say that. "Attala County" is undeniably fiction, but its real life setting isn't just Payne's hometown; Oprah was born in Kosciusko too.
"How much do you love that the most notable citizen to come out of this small, very conservative community is a single black billionaire woman," Payne laughs.
CERTAINLY ANOTHER OF PAYNE'S current projects would raise the eyebrows of those hometown conservatives. The day after "Attala County" opens, Payne begins portraying an aging transgender prostitute called Virgin Mary in Marki Shalloe's "Babylon," produced by the Process Theatre.
With high heels and wig, Payne's drag persona measures a towering 6'5" - making sure his first entrance onstage is a showstopper.
"It is absolutely the hardest work I've ever done as an actor because I want to get it right," he says. "This isn't camp drag. There's this simplicity and this beauty to the character that I've never had to tap into as an actor before."
Will Topher Payne ever get a week off? Not likely. With 32 relatives coming to town for opening weekend, several new scripts in the works and a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in his near future, he makes Oprah look like a couch potato.
‘Attala County Country Club’ opens March 3 and plays through April 1 at Onstage Atlanta. 2597 North Decatur Road. 404-897-1802, www.onstageatlanta.com. ‘Babylon’ is currently playing at Whole World Theatre, 1214 Spring St. 404-245-4205, www.tix.com
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