The wisdom of women will be revealed in unexpected ways in Yellow Point Drama Group's season-opening production.
The theatre group presents If We Are Women at Cedar Community Hall starting Friday, Oct. 17.
The play, written by Joanna McClelland Glass, follows the story of an 18-year-old girl the day after she loses her virginity on a church pew. The girl receives advice and direction from her grandmothers – one an illiterate farmer, the other an intellectual – and her mother who is mourning her lover's death.
"It's really about women's wisdom," said Patricia Zogar, who acts and directs. "There are three generations of women in this play and of course the two older generations think they're very wise and want to keep the young girl on the straight and narrow and make her life turn out all right and let her experience all the things they didn't and all that good stuff that grandmas do, and as it turns out, the young girl is very wise in her own right."
A release from the drama group noted that the play is for anyone who's had a mother.
"It encapsulates women's experiences in the lives of these four women," the director said. "It's so relatable because there are certain things that we all go through."
The drama group describes the play as filled with pathos, passion, regret, insight and humour.
"I think the word 'dramedy' is good here," Zogar said. "Someone, in one of the reviews, says there's enough laughs to keep the tears at bay."
Zogar wasn't originally slated to act one of the parts, but took on the role after another actor had to drop out. Rehearsals have been a collaboration, she said, with the women directing each other and themselves.
"So it's unfolding in some mysterious and wonderful ways," she said.
The play stars Emma Murphy, Zogar, Joanne Rowland and Sherri Wade. Zogar as director is being supported by consultant Leslie DeSchutter.
WHAT'S ON … If We Are Women runs Oct. 17-Nov. 2, with performances Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20-25 and can be purchased online at www.yellowpointdramagroup.org/if-we-are-women.
