Reader's Theater: "Recommended Reading for Girls"

Hello Friends,
Did you hear?  My own little hometown received a nod at the Oscars on Sunday evening.  Cinematographer Mauro Fiore - a native of Italy who now lives in Papillion - forgot his wife but remembered his adopted city in his acceptance speech after winning the Oscar for his work on Avatar.  This is a man who could live anywhere in the world, but he chooses to stay here.  And the more I discover and re-discover about my hometown - the more I understand his decision.

Case in point:  On Monday evening, local playwright Ellen Struve presented what she called "Draft A" of her newest work through a free Reader's Theater event hosted by the Omaha Community Playhouse.  In the intimate setting of the Howard Drew theater, with the set of Death of a Salesman as a backdrop, eight talented actresses gave voice to Struve's play, Recommended Reading for Girls, for the first time.  Eight music stands lined the front of the stage to hold the scripts, with eight chairs behind them for when the characters were not "on stage."  The narrator read the opening stage directions, and all other distractions quickly faded away as the characters drew us into their story.

The play centers around the three Saunders women.  Amy Saunders - 30, single, and sure that she's a disappointment to her mother - has just returned home to help her mother through a round of chemotherapy.  She also hopes to talk her mom into joining an experimental drug trial that Amy thinks may give her a better chance of survival.  Amy is greeted by her very pregnant sister, Jackie, when she arrives.  Their mother, Marilyn, is tired after a round of treatment. 

Looking around her childhood home, Amy observes that everything is the same as it always was.  But she soon discovers that there are four strange guests in the house... 

 Strange, but familiar at the same time.  Amy realizes they are the heroines from books she had read and loved as a girl - Sara Crewe from The Little Princess, Anne Shirley, Heidi, and a Girl Sleuth (based on the character of Nancy Drew). 

Sound implausible?  Perhaps.  But the fast-paced dialogue between the Saunders sisters and the heroines as they sort things out kept the whole audience - girls and guys alike - laughing all through the first act. 


My sister and I were amazed by how perfectly each actress fit the character she was playing, even without the benefit of costumes and makeup.  And Struve did a wonderful job of developing her characters while keeping the heroines true to their roots.  One of my favorite moments was when Amy Saunders becomes frustrated with Anne Shirley in the second act and taunts her by telling her what will happen when she grows up - that Anne will stay in her hometown, become a teacher, marry the boy next door, and have a bunch of kids.  The despairing Anne cries, "But I wanted to die tragically!!!"

In a more serious moment, Amy realizes that all four of the heroines in her home lost their mothers at an early age.  The characters also have an interesting conversation about endings.  Amy and Anne agree that a happy ending is very satisfying, while Sara Crewe reminds them that a great deal of suffering usually comes first. 

The performance was followed by an opportunity for the audience to provide feedback.  The response was overwhelmingly positive.  Great writing is always a work in progress, and I know that Struve will be hard at work to make her play even stronger.  But I think I would pay to see Draft A again - even as reader's theater.  It was that good. 

Does Omaha have talent?  Oh, yes.