Two Plays for Women

Two theatricals with all female casts! TANGENTS: Dr. Nancy Ellis, a gifted professor of clinical psychology, leads us on a journey into the troubled mind of Sandy Garrison, a young brilliant student with Multiple Personality Disorder. In a uniquely theatrical way, the personalities are portrayed by five different actresses, who battle, not only for control of "Sandy," but the doctor as well. Nancy finds herself intrigued with "Sandy's" different "selves." At the same time, "Sandy" battles her own internal confusion as she tries to embrace the fragments of her "selves." At the dramatic conclusion, both Nancy and "Sandy" complete their journeys as they come to an understanding and acceptance of themselves and more importantly, their humanness. ...A footnote. W.H. Auden states, "The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image which I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me." Perhaps what Auden summarized for us is the poignant struggle we all engage in as our private and public selves contend for control. The possibility of humans splitting the self into several parts or "personalities" is not really the surprise in our development. The truly remarkable surprise accomplished by humans, is that most of us do have only one. These SEVEN women create a tour-de-force powerhouse of an evening in the theatre. VARIETY raved: ""Tangents" is a compelling and provocative psychodrama, pairing a spunky college shrink with a troubled student governed by multiple personalities. Playwright Elizabeth Hansen has devised a clever theatrical twist by creating roles for five actresses in the varied identities of the girl, each investing her side of the character with different mannerisms and speech patterns." Mature themes and language.A STRING OF PEARLS: War does funny things to a man, but what does it do to a woman? With their loved ones off to war, the five women in "A String of Pearls" have battles of their own to face while waiting out World War II on the home front. They must learn to live on hope, wit and courage, and as the war touches them in different ways, they discover their own and each others strengths and frailties--sometimes painfully, often humorously. The setting of the play is a modest but warm New York Brownstone. Here the women meet each week for their game of bridge that provides a momentary escape from the fears and uncertainties of war. Far from the front lines, they survive their own battles of anger, betrayal, fear and weakness with the bravery and faith of soldiers and the tolerance and compassion of friends. They are strong women from different backgrounds who endure on the home front as best they can and find a new and mature courage as they take charge of their own lives, finally, emerging not as victims of war, but victors of life. The play is a valentine to the women of the era. Audiences at every performance and unanimously loved it. The theme of this play could be: War wives endure on the home front as best as they can. This play allows the audience a few glimpses into the lives of these women as they meet over the course of several years to play bridge as well as to laugh and weep together over the events that life and war bring to them. It is a depiction of women who do the best they can to deal with the disappointments thrown in their paths. This is a play about adults who each come to have a claim on our attention.