Mill Mountain Theatre’s “Driving Miss Daisy” opens Wednesday, the day after America inaugurates its first black president, Barack Obama.

The timing is not lost on director Wesley Young.

“I’m kind of honored to be directing this play at this time, because of what’s happening in our political arena,” Young says.

The comedy by Alfred Uhry about an elderly Jewish woman and her black chauffeur is a mostly light look at, among other things, race relations in the South in the mid-20th century, and the trials of growing old.

Inspired by the life of Uhry’s own grandmother, it won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The play was made into a popular movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy the next year.

Mill Mountain’s version will be presented in its smaller, more intimate venue, the Waldron Stage. It serves up three veteran actors, including octogenarian Dallas actress Jeanne Evans in the title role.

Her driver, Hoke, is played by Ashley Bowles, a retired New York City firefighter and former boxer enjoying a new career.

As an actor, Bowles has made portraying black men confronted with prejudice a kind of specialty: He played legendary black baseball player Satchel Paige in “Satchel: A Requiem for Racism,” and played him again in “Josh: the Black Babe Ruth.” He also was in a play about South Africa under apartheid. Of his role in “Daisy,” Bowles says: “I feel privileged to be able to do this play. ”

Miss Daisy’s son, Boolie, is played by veteran stage, screen and television actor Bill Timoney, whom longtime afternoon soaps fans will remember from “All My Children.” (He played Alfred Vanderpoole in the 1980s — “an adorable dork,” he says.)

Though “Driving Miss Daisy” explores large themes, the dialogue sparkles. And anyone expecting heavy drama, Timoney says, may be in for a surprise.
“It’s a very tender play, it’s a very moving play,” he says, “but it’s a lot more funny than I expected.”

Mill Mountain Theatre Artistic Director Patrick Benton, who has been slashing costs in recent seasons in an effort to stop the theater’s flow of red ink, often uses talented local actors, which helps cut travel costs. But he went with three out-of-town pros for “Miss Daisy” after failing to find local actors who were right for the roles.

Benton insists he didn’t bust the bank on this one, however. The cast is small and flights from the New York City area, where Bowles and Timoney both live, “have been cheap here lately. Basically, we’re just always looking for the best actors for the role. These are the right people to have playing these roles right now.”

Mill Mountain employs a handful of guest directors almost every season. Young, an actor, director and Radford University theater professor, is making his directing debut here with “Miss Daisy,” but appeared at Mill Mountain as an actor in “Big River” and “Into the Woods.” His directing credits at Radford include “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Sally Struthers.

Young said “Miss Daisy” is a story about “an incredible friendship” that develops between Daisy and Hoke.

And although the Jim Crow South is the backdrop, the racial themes are nuanced. Being Jewish, Young notes, Daisy has also experienced discrimination.
It’s also a play about growing old — a subject Evans, at 81, is intimately familiar with.

Evans appeared previously at Mill Mountain Theatre in “The Foreigner,” and her movie credits include “Dr. T and the Women” with Richard Gere. (Gere played her gynecologist.)

“Daisy is me in many ways. I’m aging,” Evans says.

The plays spans a period of 25 years. Daisy, Evans says, is prejudiced in the beginning, but by the end she “sees the light. There is definitely redemption.”

Young calls Daisy “a product of her times,” and says the play is “still very relevant” — Obama’s inauguration notwithstanding.

Bowles agrees. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”