Artworx Production’s “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” may be the cure for those still reeling from the season finale of HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
Directed by little theater veteran Henry Avery, the play is currently in production at the Woman’s Club, 259 East Blvd., and closes April 3.
The story is based on five bridesmaids, each with an awkward relationship with the bride, and their interaction with each other while avoiding the reception.
“Five Women” was written by Alan Ball, Academy Award-winning writer of “American Beauty” and the creator of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Anyone familiar with Ball’s work will see his typical character-based style, loosely tied to a theme but essentially plotless.
Such a script requires actors to have a strong relationship with each other, far more than a plot-driven production.
The cast is comprised of four LSU theatre students: Katie East, Rachel East, Amy Himel, and Laird Wilson, SLU student Betsy Mayeux, and Kate Vernon, an LSU graduate.
The audience is first introduced to Himel, as Frances, a sternly conservative Christian. Himel gives a solid performance, but some moments during ensemble scenes felt emotionally dry. Those moments seemed to convey a sense of inferiority toward the other characters, contrary to her “holier-than-thou” demeanor.
Katie East who plays Meredith, the bride’s younger, rebellious sister, displays a great emotional range and ability to “shift gears” from one emotion to another. East’s actual sister, Rachel, provides a more focused performance as dry-humored Mindy, the groom’s sister.
Georgeanne, played by Mayeux, is effectively spastic and erratic, providing the physical comedy to contrast the otherwise wise-cracking characters.
Vernon spends the most time on stage as the sexual expert, Trisha. Vernon has the flexibility to play both fragile and hardened equally well, especially needed in the intimate scene with Wilson’s Tripp.
The production began with many audience members sorting out the confusion of the time in the setting. The set has a Victorian look and the bridesmaids’ gowns are quite archaic, yet there is a poster of Malcolm X on the back wall and an exercise machine.
While the setting notes in the program state the play takes place in the nineties, much of the first act is spent by the audience wondering if people during the Renaissance period smoked marijuana or if the playwright was being creative, taking the focus off the actors on stage.
The actors did a good job retaining the audience’s attention during the second act, but they had some competition. The viewers had to struggle with ignoring the uncomfortable chairs. This may seem like a trivial matter, but it can really effect the viewers’ mood when they cannot stand for almost two hours.
While the audience should not be a key part of a review, their response is what keeps any play running. The crowd was considerably older, yet they enjoyed all the sexual and drug use references that make younger audiences laugh.
The overall effect is an intriguing play with the professionalism of a college theatre program and the personalization of community theatre.
With a good ensemble based on strong cohesion and a modern story-line for the common public, “Five Women” is a charming example of independent theater.
B+