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ACT Makes a Splash with The Women
by Ellen Hastings

Get ready for a gorgeous splashy theater production as ACT caps off its 2007 season with The Women, by Clare Boothe Luce. Sixteen of Seattle’s most prominent actresses will be dressed to the nines in the high fashion of the 1930s and then unleashed to prattle, prance, kick and claw their way through the female power struggles of New York City’s high society.

On its surface, the play is a sharp-witted, fast-paced satire on the frivolous and catty lifestyles of wealthy women, but ACT artistic director Kurt Beattie sees The Women as “… a proto-feminist play. It is a serious investigation of the state of women as an underclass in American culture...” Based on the movie and a quick peek at the script, I’d say a feminist message is not what jumps out. What do are overt sexist attitudes, a depiction of women engaged in shallow daily routines, and a desperate dependence on males that sends shivers up one’s spine. But that is the beauty of satire; for the playwright and director to wink and nod to the audience as these women (who are convinced of their superior position in society) waltz grandly before us, completely unaware of our ridicule and scorn. Brilliantly, it is the high-speed gossip and frenzied banality of beauty parlors and “doing lunch” that both provide the humor and reveal the glaring absence of any real power these women possess. The feminist message comes through not in showing power these women have, but in exposing their blatant lack of it, true even for those with means.

The playwright, Clare Boothe Luce, was an astonishingly accomplished woman in her own right. She achieved great success not only as one of the leading playwrights of her time, but also as an editor at Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines; a journalist reporting on World War II for Life magazine; a congresswoman elected twice in Connecticut to the House of Representatives; and the Ambassador to Italy and Brazil appointed by President Eisenhower. At the age of 77, President Reagan appointed her to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in 1981, and awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983. It is not a track record that suggests women had a lack of opportunity in her time, although she certainly had unique access to power and its privileges through her second marriage to Henry Robinson Luce, founder of Time, Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated magazines.
Women’s dependence on men is a strong theme in The Women, which originally premiered on Broadway in 1936, a year after Clare Boothe married Henry Luce. A telling exchange in the script is when Peggy declares, “A woman’s best protection is to keep a little money of her own,” and Mary (the character whom the whole play revolves around) counters, “A woman’s best protection is — the right man.”

Divorce and class differences are other prominent topics. Luce had personal experience with both, having divorced her first husband after six years of marriage. And her life journey had taken her from a working-class childhood, up the ladder of society through her own hard work, to success as an editor and playwright. However, she reached the height of power and wealth partly, if not largely, due to the connections and status she gained from marrying a tycoon. The themes of class differences and divorce still strongly resonate in today’s society, and seem even a bit ahead of their time for the era in which the play was written.

Opening during the Great Depression, The Women was not well received by critics at its Broadway debut, but it proved to be wildly successful with audiences and was made into a classic film starring Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford a short three years later, in 1939. It seems that the chance to laugh and wag fingers at how outrageous and silly the ultra rich were was therapeutic for the masses, who were struggling financially.

The Women is a daring production that has been in the works for over two years at ACT. Few companies are willing to take on this large a project, and few cities have a local acting pool with enough depth and talent to carry it off. Julie Briskman is part of that touted talent pool and is cast as Sylvia Fowler, one of the most outrageous and delicious roles in the play. Briskman observes with admiration that “ACT theatre has the bravery and the wisdom to do a play that has 16 women that is rarely done anywhere in the country because it’s so huge!”

Fundraisers specific to this project have been held over the past couple of years, and the costume shop started working in January on the extravagant wardrobe that includes over 100 outfits.

The Women is a play that provides a rare and wonderful opportunity to parade a rich slice of Seattle’s wealth of talented actresses in a large, exclusively female cast. ACT takes great pride in its commitment to casting local actresses (only one of the 16 actresses is from out of town). Warner Shook, ACT’s director for the production, comments on the significance of this commitment. “The Women is the first venture of any major theatre in Seattle that brings all of this talent onto one stage, and it is an extraordinary honor to acknowledge the incredible female power that is here in Seattle.”

The Women opens Oct. 11 and runs through Nov. 4, with a possible extension through the holidays depending on demand. Expect big and exciting sheer theatricality — an extravaganza usually reserved for large theatres that seat thousands. This is the goal ACT is aiming for with The Women. The theatre’s intimate space will envelop you and delight you with witty and clever dialogue, outlandish costuming, lavish lighting and elaborate sets, along with an army of talented actresses delving into physical and verbal comedy. It will be bold, big and hilariously fun, with an alarmingly acerbic portrayal of sisterhood that can’t help but generate discussion.

Ellen Hastings is a local writer, actress and business woman.

©2007 Caliope Publishing Company