Raising Hell Under the Prayer Tree is a wacky, Southern coming-of-age novel. It's told from the point-of-view of thirteen-year-old Bobbi Jo Wahl, whose family role models include: Petra, her alcoholic, nymphomaniac mother, her bootlegging Uncle Killer and her bible-thumping Grandma who prays her own son dead under the prayer tree, thus the title.

In Bobbi Jo's world, beatings, bill collectors, pre-marital sex and alcoholism are part of the everyday chaos of life. Bobbi Jo has a little brother and sister to take care of and she's a scrapper, so before the age of thirteen she learns everything she needs to know: lying, stealing, smoking, drinking and beating the shit out of boys.

Bobbi Jo's journey in Raising Hell Under the Prayer Tree takes her from age eight to the brink of womanhood. In the face of poverty, neglect and violence Bobbi Jo is nobody's victim. She's smart, she's resourceful and she's funny. But, most importantly, Bobbi Jo has heart.

Raising Hell Under the Prayer Tree is a hilarious (and hair-raising) white-trash survival story.

If you'd like to see Teena bring these characters to life,
please see her performance schedule below.