By Mary Martin Niepold
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
Put a group of women together in the fellowship hall of a Texas church, watch them throw hissy fits and tangle over past slights and present insults, and you've got the makings of the latest Del Shores play, Daughters of the Lone Star State. It opened Friday night at Theatre Alliance.
Shores, who can master down-home humor and does a good job of satirizing small-town customs, is particularly good at skewering customs that reek with hypocrisy. Director Jamie Lawson has already guided Theatre Alliance's staging of two other plays by Shores, Daddy's Dying, Who's Got the Will and Sordid Lives.
In Daughters of the Lone Star State, which features an all-female cast, the target is the uppity attitude, prejudice and hypocrisy of a few local churchwomen in the small town of Lowake, Texas, 1992.This particular group at the First Baptist Church call themselves the "Daughters of the Lone Star State," and their motto is "We are the privileged helping the underprivileged."
They may have a well-meaning mission, but on this night right before Christmas, they're struggling with failing membership, the admission of a lower-class woman who married a Mexican, a member who drinks too much, and one who flushes away another member's banana pudding because it's too common. There's even discussion about whether to admit a black member or dissolve altogether.
The plot is thin in this moral tale, but Shores offers his zingers: "Better to leave 'em wanting than wanting to leave" and "I almost forgot I decided to ignore you for the rest of my life."
The problem is that just about all the women can do is fight. Yes, there are some funny lines and some tender moments, but the clawing is relentless. On opening night, the pacing of the play also dragged a bit.
"Daughters" does make its point about prejudice and snobbery, and helping to hold our attention are two wonderful characters. Carol Roan is very funny as "Cookie Hawkins," the original founder who lapses in and out of lucidity. Mostly, Cookie thinks she's Lady Bird Johnson. Cheryl Ann Roberts plays "Virgie Hopkins" in this, her third Del Shores play at Theatre Alliance, and it shows. Roberts is tough, confident and won't put up with much.
Theatre Alliance presents Daughters of the Lone Star State at 2 p.m. today and Nov. 22; at 8 p.m. Nov. 19-20; and at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Nov. 21. Theatre Alliance, 1047 Northwest Blvd., Winston-Salem. Call 336-723-7777.
No comments:
Post a Comment