Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Love, Loss, & What I Wore at the Delaware Theatre Company is a Perfect Girls Night Out!

The Delaware Theatre Company’s latest production, Daryl Roth presents:” Love, Loss, and What I Wore” is an intimate collection of stories by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron; based on the book by Ilene Beckerman. The limited run play boasts a cast of familiar faces, including Sabrina Le Beauf (The Cosby Show), Sonia Manzano (Sesame Street), Karyn Quakenbush (Broadway’s Annie Get Your Gun), Erica Watson (Precious), and Dawn Wells (Gilligan’s Island).

The cast, sitting on stools, reads multiple stories of love, death, disease, and relationships, all inspired by their characters’ clothing and accessories. Only the endearing Ms. Wells reads a story (Gingy’s story) that continues throughout the play. Gingy’s story is based on her dresses and weaves between the other ladies’ tales. Ms. Wells opens the performance with Gingy’s first monologue as an awkward 12-year-old and ends the evening with the character’s final monologue as a confident grandmother. Ms. Wells’ precise reading takes the audience on Gingy’s journey of personal and professional triumphs and failures – many of the experiences are identifiable by both women and men. 
   
The rest of the readings, many of which deal with the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, are short stories and monologues. The tales, whether humorous or sad, mostly maintain a positive outlook on life and keep the audiences’ spirits up!

In addition to reading stories about relationships between women, some tales are about the relationships between women and their belongings. Ms. Watson expertly delivers a monologue regarding the bottomless purse and how it becomes a messy home for everything a woman owns. By the sound of the audience’s laughter, it appears that most women could identify with the story. Ms. Watson’s story telling is perfect. Her tone, voice inflections, and body language brought the story to life.

While Gingy’s story resurfaces periodically throughout the production and the purse story keeps the audience in stitches, other monologues and tales revolve around inner turmoil (the feeling of being too fat or too thin), horrible fashions from the past (jumpsuits and sleeveless turtlenecks), and friends enjoying a night out (a group of ladies dressing like Madonna for a Halloween party).

Ms. Watson and Ms. Wells along with the other actresses give stunning performances. Whether they are reading a monologue or joining together to tell a story, each woman rises to the occasion. Since there is no set and only a few props, the women must depend on themselves to make the stories enjoyable and real, and they do through their brilliant story telling talents.

This is the kind of show that you want to see with your “besties” – a girls night out! I think the female audiences would enjoy a conversation with libations after the play. Get your tickets today! The play closes March 17th. To purchase tickets and/or for more information visit www.delaware theatre.org or call 302.594.1100.

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