NICOTH Review: Grace and Glorie

Rating: Four Stars
Date: 26 Jul 2006

Except that I once shared the stage with Marge Elfstrom, I probably would not have bothered to see a 2-woman show about an elderly dying woman and her hospice visitor, recommended as a "girls' night out". (I'm a guy.) What a wonderful evening I would have missed! And for only 10 bucks!

Wheaton Drama describes this as an unscheduled "studio production", suggesting reduced technical production, perhaps. My first impression upon entering the theater was that the stage was beautifully designed and decorated with the authentic look of a mountain cabin home of an old woman. It's hard to imagine that production manager and set designer Don Dumper and decorator Barb Giblin were skimping on the set.

Sound designer Steven Merkel punctuated the performance with excellent selections from the bluegrass gospel canon, appropriate for the rural Virginia setting. A special mention goes to Dave Pfhenninger as the recorded voice of all four members of the Good News Quartet, heard singing on Grace's Walkman as the show opens.

Despite the seemingly depressing premise of the story, Marge Elfstrom as Grace and Cindy Bolds as Glorie take turns delighting the audience with laugh-out-loud humor and the occasional story of personal anguish and regret which had even the men in the audience wiping away tears.

Perhaps the real star of the show is Tom Ziegler's script. I usually don't recognize the craft of writing until I've spent 6 weeks reading and rehearsing a play. This story abounds with subtle little mysteries about the characters which are cleverly resolved as the evening unfolds. Especially moving is Grace's second act tour-de-force revealing why a fiercely faithful Christian hasn't been to church in 50 years...and you never see it coming.

This is Marc Ludena's rookie outing as a director. I almost think he couldn't miss with this superb work. Then again, I wasn't there to see what problems might have arisen. Only one more weekend...that's the bad news.