L-R sitting: Beth Morrell, Merrie Mizaras Standing: Ali Hutchinson, Karen Lehan, Jane Cartier

~ PRESS REVIEW ~

Photo by Karen Foye
PR by Cindy Dow

MIDDLEBORO Š One sign of a good story is that when it is finished, you are left still wanting more. Such is the case with NRPÕs production of The Dixie Swim Club Š I laughed while watching the play, and laughed even more while trying to describe it to friends I was encouraging to attend a future performance.

The storyline follows five southern women who became friends on their college swim team and reunite every August for a weekend at a bungalow on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We first meet the women on their 22nd weekend get-a-way and learn that they have three rules: no men, no work, and no children Š although thereÕs plenty of chatter about all of the above.

This last rule proves impossible to adhere to, though, when Jeri Neal McFeeley, played by Alison Hutchinson, surprises everyone by showing up with an unannounced but advanced pregnancy, then proceeds to go into labor. Jeri NealÕs soft-spoken drawl and sweetness project a simplicity that makes the others want to protect her, even when that means conspiring to not let her know about a party for one of the others to avoid stressing her with travel plans to attend.

Sheree Holinger, played by Beth Morrell, believes "once the team captain, always the team captain," and proves it by providing an itinerary for each weekend and a determination to keep her friends fit with health-food appetizers they promptly spit out behind her back. Sheree is more than an organizer, sheÕs a mother hen; a fact the friends tease about but find comforting in the midst of an evacuation from the cottage during a summer storm.

Lexie Richards, portrayed by Karen Lehan, has bought into the line that youth equals beauty, lamenting the fact that no cosmetic surgery can hide age on a womanÕs hands. Her self-absorption has resulted in so many ex-husbands that her friends donÕt bother to learn names anymore, simply calling them by numbers.

Merrie Mizaras is Dinah Grayson, a driven attorney whose successful career has left her with room for little else in her life. Despite a penchant for martinis at nine in the morning, she is a loyal friend able to keep a confidence when necessary.

Vernadette Sims, played by Jane Cartier, has the worst luck of any of the women, but is the least likely to complain about it. At each girls-only weekend sheÕs sporting a different cast or bandage, and telling another tale on one of her children for choosing the wrong path. Vernadette just digs in to find a way through life, choosing to focus on the positives where she can and turning on her sharp wit where she canÕt, such as when she explains that, "ever since MaÕs in a coma, sheÕs not nearly so judgmentalÅ"

In four scenes that span 33 years, the bonds of friendship first formed 22 years earlier are stretched, tested, and leaned on. The women support each other through babies and dating, surgeries, and losing loved ones. They arenÕt afraid to call each other on poor behavior, but are quick to rally when one of them needs a shoulder or two to lean on. NRPÕs production at the Middleboro Town Hall is a unique setting, with the activity on the floor in the center of the hall and the audience arranged on all four sides of the scene. The arrangement offers some challenges, including the fact that there is always going to be some part of the audience the actor is not facing when delivering lines, and staging must be minimal so as not to obstruct any viewpoint. The advantage of the arrangement is that it creates an intimacy with the audience seldom enjoyed when the performance is on a traditional stage; the minimal staging also focuses the attention on the performance. Stage crew and make-up artists deserve due credit for their part in the success of the production, as both the cottage and women were brought from the 1970Õs to modern day with the artful use of accessories, style, and, for the women, gray hair.

Directed by Michael Pevzner, "the Dixie Swim Club" was written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten. If the characters inspire thoughts of the "Golden Girls," it is not without reason; Mr. Wooten was a writer/producer on the show for many seasons.