“Love, Loss and What I Wore” at Your Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

            Your Theatre’s current production of “Love, Loss and What I wore” adapted for the stage by Delia and Nora Ephron is a series of monologues which includes women's relationships and wardrobes and at times the interaction of the two, using the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a woman's life and is based on the 1995 book by Ilene Beckerman. It is a fun time, full of funny and some touching moments, brought vividly to life by a series of five actresses.

            The show, which has a running time of about 1 hour and 30 minutes, is composed of 28 different stories that seek to illuminate the female identity. Generally composed of comic stories, the show often addresses sad, bitter or sentimental issues A character called Gingy acts as the narrator. The show opens with her sketching various parts of her wardrobe that stir the most poignant memories. She weaves her life story among the other tales, describing her three marriages, "motherhood and the death of a child, each turning point marked by a particular item of clothing”. Her life is represented beginning with experiences in a Brownies uniform and extending through her full life.

In addition to Gingy, one character serves as the vixen, another plays a vulnerable gang member from Chicago, a third portrays a brave cancer patient, and the last serves as a mature woman pierced by vivid memories. One of these characters, named Heather, chooses conservative "think" shoes over high heels in her youth, but at a later stage in life shows a preference for high heels. The gang member likes insignias that are prominent on sweaters and their creator. Among the 28 stories, other notable tales include one about the influence of Madonna (with discourse including "Any American woman under 40 who says she's never dressed as Madonna is either lying or Amish."); one about dressing room anxiety (a story revolving around the concept that "I’m an 8. I’ve always been an 8"); and one about your mother's tastes in clothes ("I don’t understand, you could look so good if you tried"). Other stories include recollections about the dress purchased for the date with a guy who subsequently married someone else; the foibles of spandex bras that result in a look known as the monoboob; issues involving toe cleavage; the Juicy Couture tracksuit that is a prominent staple of California wardrobes; wardrobe choice on the wrong day of the month; and the story about an incarcerated lover and the strategic hole in a certain pair of pants. Three of the characters sometimes work as a trio and all characters have monologues.

There are two separate casts for this play. I witnessed Cast 1.  This cast featured Pamela Morgan as Gingy, with Chris Bailey, Anne Hart Cool, Sheila Furtado and Caroline Paradis are the rest of the cast ensemble. They are splendid, full of verve, energy and sincerity in their performances. They work well together an created an atmosphere of old friends chatting, full of familiarity and warmth shared.

Director Robin Richards takes what could have been a somewhat dry staged reading and gives it life with the cast interactions.

The set design by Mark Fuller and Lawrence R. Houbre Jr. is simple and direct as the performances.

Your Theatre until Oct.23 All tickets $15
136 Rivet Street, New Bedford, MA
508-993-0772 http://yourtheatre.org/yti/index.php