Sisters and Bridesmaids

A couple years ago, at the request and urging of my friends Lynda Dalton Gallagher and Mary Miller, I stepped out of my comfort zone and onto a stage for the first time. Lynda is a very talented actor and director of local theater and Mary is a gifted playwright and author. Lynda asked me to play a part in an ensemble comedy that Mary had written and she would be staging around Christmas. I told them both that the only time I had ever been in a play was in grade school productions, but that I would be willing to give the role a shot if they really thought I'd be able to hold my own with the seasoned actors that had been cast.

And so I took the stage as one of three sisters in Mary's semi-autobiographic family comedy, "Unfinished Dreams." Leslie Jackson, a gifted Brunswick music teacher and veteran of Island Players musicals, played my pregnant sister, Elizabeth. Dawn Dyche, a talented singer with The Not Brothers and seasoned thespian, played my ditzy younger sister, Babs. Veteran actors Janet Sikes and Glenn Sellers rounded out the cast as our parents. While learning lines is difficult, I had help from my fellow cast members, my favorite "word Nazi" Clynne Morgan, and friends like C.A.P.E. Theater's Heather Schultz and Dawn's husband, Mike, another talented actor, director, and singer . . . and my darling son too, who listened to me say lines over and over in the car and never hesitated to tell me when I missed a word or messed up a line!

The play was well received by audiences and the experience of working with these incredibly talented people was something I will always cherish. They were helpful and generous and made me feel like a welcome part of the theater family. The cast itself also became like family. Somehow these "sisters" became my sisters. I don't think anyone was more excited than I was when my "pregnant sister" announced that she was really pregnant. When baby Jack was born to Leslie and her husband, Denny, it was like I was a proud aunt once again. I just met Jack in person for the first time a couple weeks ago and terrified the poor child with my squeals of excitement!

The "Unfinished Dreams" experience was so positive for me that I didn't pause for a minute when Lynda asked me to read the script for "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" a few months later. Only a few pages into it I discovered that we were going to have a very different kind of production on our hands. This play was by American Beauty writer Alan Ball. It had sex, drugs and rock and roll. It was filled with foul language, raunchy discussions of sex, and themes of homosexuality and sexual abuse. Wow. How would the Sea Island crowd react to that? My character? A smart, clumsy, charm-school educated, wise-cracking, and always-eating lesbian named Mindy. And wait . . . we would all be wearing identical hideous sequined green bridesmaids dresses (which were really prom dresses.) I was so in!

My fellow bridesmaids were: Amy Lovin, a Brunswick High teacher who might possibly be the funniest person I know; Liz Gowen, another teacher and the sweet, beautiful wife of the man my son thinks is one of the coolest guys ever, Locos' owner, Zack Gowen; Krista Harris, the wonderful wild child with whom I used to work at The Brunswick News; and Susan Kohler, a dedicated stay-at-home mom and veteran of local stage productions. Amy and Liz were fresh off of the Island Players production of "Come Blow Your Horn" and their castmate Rob Clarkson had the role of our token cute male usher. We came out of the box swinging for the fences with a fantastic poster created by my friend, talented graphic designer, Stacey Nichols. Just that poster made people want to see the play! And then there was the buzz...

Once we finished the opening weekend, everyone was talking about the play. How "real" the dialogue and the characters were. Women loved it, they came back and brought their friends or their husbands. We sold out nightly. When the show ended its run, people were asking when we'd be doing it again. It was amazing! I even got the heady experience of receiving scene applause -- when an audience claps following an actor's delivery in the middle of a scene -- following a tongue-in-cheek beauty pageant contestant monologue that ends "And here's my tits, now my butt, and my tits again...." Making the audience laugh like that is positively electric and I had so much fun doing it!

As for the "Five Women" cast, we had a chemistry that resonated with the audience and we too became a big family. We all wish we could get together more often. Some of us see each other when our busy schedules permit, and we have a great time when we do get together. Amy, Liz, Krista and Susan may have been bridesmaids in the play but they have also become the sisters of my heart. For a girl whose real family includes only brothers, I love that God has found a way to provide me with some wonderful sisters. And I'd be willing to add Rob as another younger brother too. Lynda will always be the mother of our motley bunch. 

With such amazing experiences tucked under my belt, I congratulate myself for being brave enough to do something new and a little scary. I have discovered that acting is something I enjoy immensely and I have made such great friends with each production. I eagerly await this summer's production of "Dixie Swim Club" in the new Brunswick Actors' Theatre. We have a new venue and an official name. I look forward to working with old friends and making new ones. I hope your faces will be among the ones I see in the audience . . . or maybe on that stage with me one day!

**A special side note: I might also be the fertility goddess of the theater. Leslie Jackson became pregnant during our production of "Unfinished Dreams." Liz Gowen announced her pregnancy during the last weeks of "Five Women." Yesterday, Peggy Sue Gowen entered the world prior to her expected arrival date much to her parents' delight. She is a beautiful baby girl (just like her mama) and I again feel like a proud aunt. I can't wait to meet this sweet girl.