What You Missed, A Grace and Glorie Review

By Ken Ashford

In the local community theater scene, there are several companies from which you can expect a quality production: The Little Theatre of Winston-Salem, Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance, The Community Theatre of Greensboro, etc.

Then there are other smaller companies (from smaller communities and/or church groups) which lack the budget and personnel and so-on who mount reasonable shows, but it is sometimes a hit-or-miss proposition. Sometimes the show they've selected is overly ambitious, given the space or caliber of the cast.

But once in a while, the right mix of cast and production come together and one of the smaller community theaters presents an evening which can rival the best in the area.

Grace & Glorie, presented by the Kernersville Little Theatre, was such a production.

I caught the show in its closing weekend.

The Winston-Salem Journal described the play as follows:

Grace and Glorie is the story of Grace, a 90-year old woman who is dying of cancer and Gloria, her hospice worker who has moved to the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia from New York City.

Gloria volunteers at a hospital to help terminally ill people, and Grace is her third assignment.

Well, yes. That's the general plot. But there's more to it.

Grace is an illiterate religious hardy woman set in her ways. She has lived her quiet life, never traveling for more than 50 miles from her home, and never seriously contemplating her life's value or her legacy.

Glorie is a contemporary secular "power" woman who left the fast lane (with her husband) following the death of her son in an automobile accident (she was driving at the time).

In their own ways, both characters are coping with death -- Grace with her own impending demise, and Glorie with her son's tragic end. But other than that, they share almost nothing in common.

And while Glorie is looking for answers surrounding the meaning of life (and death), Grace never even thought about the questions.

The culture clash between the two women provides for most, if not all, of the humor between the two women. Glorie introduces Grace to hair mousse, lobster salad and video cameras; Grace introduces Glorie to pot-bellied stoves and Velveeta cheese sandwiches.

But somehow, the two stubborn characters manage to connect, find some common ground, and learn from each other. To the credit of playwright Tom Ziegler, this is achieved without weepy sentimentality (although the show is a tearjerker).

Still, a "talky" play runs the risk of becoming boring and preachy. This is where the cast of Grace & Glorie really shined. Pat Shumate (Grace) and Cheryl Ann Roberts (Glorie) worked exceedingly well together, and whether they were sparring with each other or comforting each other, you really believed every moment and every word. It's rare (and nice) to see such rich and developed characters, and even more difficult to portray them for over two hours. But both actresses rose to the occasion, each sending the audience into emotional roller coasters of hilarity and sadness.

The KLT production was in Koerner's Folly, a perfect venue for such an intimate show (the Folly seats only about 60 people).

I would tell you to go see it, but the production is closed. Your loss.