"It's just an average afternoon on the back porch of a Texas house when the air conditioning has gone out," theater professor Jamie Horton, who directed the production, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "This play creates a very thorough, clear world, so I think that my job as director is to do justice to what [author James] McLlure has written the simplicity and the fun of it."
Apart from Horton's guidance, however, the play was primarily a student-run production, starring Megan Rosen '10, Tess Mattraw '10 and Olivia Baptista '12. While the script only called for three actors, over 20 students participated in various aspects of the production, from set design to stage managing.
Written by McLure and first performed in 1980 by the McCarter Theater Company in Princeton, N.J., "Laundry and Bourbon" takes place in rural Texas on a hot summer day in 1976. Longtime friends Elizabeth and Hattie drink bourbon as they fold laundry, reminiscing about the past and contemplating the present. As the play unfolds, the audience gets an intimate glimpse into the lives of both characters and the struggles they face as relatively uneducated married women in the post-Vietnam War era.
"I hope [audiences] leave with the sense that this is not a play about people going big places or big people going big places it's very simple," Horton said. "What touches me about [the story], and what I hope touches the audience, is this friendship that exists between these two women how strong it is, their lives that they've shared, what's painful to them now."
The set, designed by Jocelyn Duford '11, consisted of only a porch rail, a front door and a table with chairs. Free of distractions such as vibrant colors and intense lights, the rustic scene design allowed audience members to focus on and, ultimately, connect with Elizabeth and Hattie just as Horton hoped they would. The small size of the Bentley Theater further enhanced the intimacy inherent in the script and conveyed by Duford's set design, lighting done by Stacey Derosier '12 and costumes done by Alex Maceda '11.
"The [production elements] really fit very beautifully together," Horton said. "It's quite a striking visual down there on that rather small stage, and I hope the audience will respond to it."
Indeed, Friday's audience seemed to respond to the play, particularly to Mattraw's performance as Hattie. Mattraw provided the comic relief, and laughter followed her lines throughout the 58-minute show. Whether she was griping about how "thievin'" was in her daughter's blood or fuming over the discovery that Elizabeth's husband had run off in his pink Thunderbird, Mattraw did justice to her character.
Mattraw was also involved in the pre-production process of "Laundry and Bourbon," as she initially brought the proposal for the performance to the theater department in February, according to Horton.
"When we knew we were going through with this performance, we were aware that our time was going to be tight because this opening is closer to the beginning of the term than usual," Horton said. "We read through the lines and rehearsed a couple of times prior to the break between Winter and Spring term and then jumped right into more rehearsals when we came back."
The hard work of the cast and crew was evident during the performance. The lean directing style and the subtle, honest acting left the audience with a true sense of empathy for Elizabeth and Hattie.
Indeed, "Laundry and Bourbon" provided a heart-wrenching and convincing look into rural America. Its realistic acting style and simple set design combined to create a show that probed potentially melodramatic issues such as troubled marriages and infidelity with grace and tact.
