Growing up in East Texas gave Mayes many things — a love for music of all kinds, a high tolerance for extremely spicy food and an appreciation for all things odd and quirky. Most of all, it gave her a bone-deep love for a people that are frequently caricatured but not often understood, and a longing to tell their stories in all of their complicated messiness.

Described as a memory play with music, “Contradiction of the Southern Soul” tells the story of an actress returning to her East Texas hometown in the wake of a family tragedy to make peace with the past and accept the future.