Love, Loss, and What I Wore Is a Grand Old Time

A group of women share an unconventional narrative of their recollections in Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Writers Delia and Nora Ephron have crafted a series of monologues based on a book by Ilene Beckerman.

At Beckerman’s request, the actresses performed a staged reading of the play. The tales the women share are alternately funny and sad. They lament relationships with their mothers, husbands and lovers. There has often been tremendous heartbreak and sadness in their lives, along with some happy moments.

Clothes also feature prominently in their memories. Whether it’s a dress they liked wearing, or an outfit they were made to wear, the women express regret, affection or outright mortification for their stylistic choices. As a way of underlining their significance, design sketches of some of the clothes are projected onto screens.

Director Lynne Collinson assembled a superb cast for the production: Joanne Fayan, Tanya Anderson, Joan Batting, Pam Faulkner, Laura Sorensen and Valerie Westgate. The actresses all tackle the material with energy and imagination. They are clearly having a grand old time bringing these stories to life and I had a grand old time watching them.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs a crisp 90 minutes. It is a show that will resonate with women of any age, and maybe a few men as well.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs through March 6 at 2nd Story Theatre, 28 Market St., Warren. For tickets, call the box office at 401-247-4200 or e-mail boxoffice@2ndstorytheatre.com.