KAYCEE - The strip-tease instructions were lost in translation, brushed off in a generational void.

But it was funny, nonetheless, watching Kaycee playwright Sandy Dixon demonstrate to the teenage cast members of her play how to shake the ol' money maker.

Kelsey Straub, 16, looked doubtful as Dixon, a wiry and spry sixty-something, raised her arms and did a little shimmy. Straub and her fellow female cast members had just wrapped up volleyball practice, pulled some prom dresses over their jeans, and took their places.

The strip-tease number is central to the plot of the play, "The Real Truth Behind the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang," which is the sequel to Dixon's play, "And the Wild Bunch Will Ride Once More." In both plays, a half-dozen mail-order brides struggling to survive in pioneer-era Kaycee consider making and selling moonshine and prostitution, respectively.

The original cast of "The Real Truth" were adults. And even in today's age of hip-hop obscenity, some of the play's jokes are lost on the current cast of teenage boys and girls.

Like when the plotting women gather round the table to discuss how "Belle," the town's madam, is making her money.

"What does she need all those bedrooms for, anyway?" asks Brianna Straub.

"Now wait," Dixon says. "The audience is gonna laugh. That's a dirty joke to them."

It's also funny when Neteal Graves, a varsity volleyball player with powerful biceps, grabs fellow cast member Jesse Berg and recites this line: "I just love the way your muscles ripple under that shirt. I don't know how a woman can make it all alone in this cold, cold world."

Graves' biceps are bigger than the cowboy's.

Graves's grandfather, Norris Graves, was in the original play, and the family relationships between initial cast members and the current ones don't stop there.

Jason Foley is the grandson of Ginger Curuchet, whose role is being played by Krystin Raabe; Kelsey and Breanna Straub's grandfather, Kaycee veterinarian Dwayne Christensen, was in the original cast, as was Virginia Forbes, from whom current cast member Diamond Forbes is descended.

Director's cuts

Dixon is co-directing the play with her friend Jo Harlan. The two prompt, prod and cajole their casts - adults and children - until the stress gets to be too much for everyone involved and by then it's showtime.

It's not easy directing teenagers, Dixon says.

"It's harder to direct teenagers because they're kind of belligerent," Dixon says. "That's their age. When you have the adults, they say, 'I've got to get my costume lined out,' and they do it. The teenagers expect you to dress them."

Conversely, Dixon's directorial perfectionism is no picnic for the girls, they say.

"She calls me every single night and gives me the run-down on what happened at play practice," said TyLynn Walter, who is Dixon's grand-daughter.

Kelsey Straub, similarly, is playing the role Dixon wrote for herself, and during rehearsals, the pressure is definitely on, Straub says.

It's also on for Lee Robinson, who plays the singing role written for Chris LeDoux.

How's that working out?

"I figure there's no shot at (being as good as LeDoux)," Robinson says. "I just have to plunk along."

He's being modest; he's quite talented, as is Walter, who does a duet on the violin with Robinson on the guitar.

Earlier rehearsals resulted in poor feedback from the directors, but last week's got a thumbs-up from Dixon and Harlan.

"I am so proud of you," Harlan said. "You know your lines."

All for LeDoux

The proceeds of the play will go toward a fund to build a memorial park for LeDoux in Kaycee. The project is just in its formative stages, but townspeople hope to have the park feature a bronze of LeDoux on a bucking horse by Buffalo sculptor Mike Thomas.

A smaller sculpture by Thomas will cost about $19,000; the one the townspeople want, a life-and-a-half size, is upwards of $200,000.

The Prescription Shoppe in Buffalo and Armor's Restaurant Chef Bernard have each donated prizes to be raffled off at the shows.