LUMBERTON — Purple Door Productions will kick off its 2018-19 season with a celebration of regional actresses who will take the stage in an all-female production.
“Always the Bridesmaid” will show for seven days at Robeson Community College’s A.D. Lewis Auditorium. The play includes six actresses and an all-female backstage crew. The director also is a woman, Purple Door Productions Artistic Director Jeanne Koonce.
“It really is about doing a play with women about women for women,” Koonce said. “When you have women that are this experienced and this good, you just hand them the material and get out of their way.”
The show is about four friends who have sworn to keep the promise they made on the night of their senior prom — to be in each other’s weddings no matter what. More than 30 years later, the Southern friends-for-life are still putting on bridesmaid dresses to honor that vow.
Each character will relate a female they have known at some point, whether it’s the woman who is romantic, the woman dealing with unfaithfulness, or the woman who can never settle down.
“It’s either happened to you or someone you know,” Koonce said.
She had the idea to do a production centered on women because she noticed most of the people auditioning for shows were adult women and Purple Door production has never done a show geared toward the women-over-20 audience.
“Most shows don’t feature a lot of women,” Koonce said. “I’m not sure why shows are written that way. Most shows will have reading roles for seven guys and if you’re lucky three women.”
The showtimes are Thursday through Saturday and Sept. 20-22 at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 22-23 at 2 p.m. On Friday a wedding reception will be held before the play at 6 p.m. at RCC’s Fred C. Williams Center. Tickets are $45 for singles, $80 for couples, and $300 for a table of eight. It is suggested that guests dress in bridesmaid and groom attire. An award for the ugliest bridesmaid dress will be announced at the dinner.
Pre-sale tickets for the show are available at the RCC Foundation Office or by phone at 910-272-3235 or 910-224-4000. Tickets for adults are $10, and $5 for students and RCC staff. Tickets at the door are $15 for adults and $8 for RCC students and staff.
