Count it! (Five Women) All wearing the same Dress

The name of the play is Five Women Wearing the Same Dress written by Alan Ball. It was written in 1993. The Manhattan Class Company was the first to produce it in none other than New York City. Production was on February 13, 1993 and Melia Bensussen served as director. Also performed at:
Circle Theatre in Chicago, Illinois in 1997
Artistic Home in Chicago, Illinois in 2003

This information and many more can be found at the Theatre Lit Wiki website link below:
http://theatrelitwiki.wikispaces.com/Five+Women+Wearing+the+Same+Dress

The play is about five bridesmaid who have came together to celebrate the marriage of a mutual friend, Tracy Marlowe-McClure.Though they are all bridesmaids, they find themselves escaping the wedding reception and all sitting in Meredith's bedroom. Meredith is Tracy's sister and one of the bridesmaids. The other four bridesmaids are: Frances (Tracy's cousin), Trisha (Tracy's friend), Georgeanne Darby (Tracy's middle school friend), and Mindy McClure (Scott, the groom's, sister). They start drinking and begin to tell stories about their personal lives. The bridesmaids also discover that none of them truly like Tracy and can not figure out why they accepted the offer to be a bridesmaid. As the play continues we discover each character has a personal issue or dilemma they are facing internally. Meredith has insecurities because she was sexually assaulted by her sister's ex-boyfriend (who was her boyfriend at the time), Tommy Valentine. Frances is a holy woman but finds herself engaging and enjoying the festivities of drinking and other activities with the girls. Trisha has men problem. She does not trust men and only use them for sex, making her sexual partners count pretty high. Georgeanne can not get over Tommy Valentine and the fact that she had to have an abortion after getting pregnant by him while he was still dating Tracy. Georgeanne is in a marriage where she does not even love her husband and refuses to fight for it. Mindy has an eating habit and is bold, she does not care about what comes out of  her mouth. The play unfolds all of these issues as the women come together to cope about their "miserable" lives.

One choice made in Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is including the fact that Tommy Valentine slept with or flirted with almost every bridesmaid. I believe this was an importation choice because it added something to the story line. It made me question why Georgeanne still loves him and ultimately I had a chance to think about myself and my current situation as well. This plot choice was effective because I believe there are many women like Georgeanne and myself, who are in love with the wrong man and no matter what, we can't shake the feeling. Another choice is the tempo, it is a very fast pace. There is one scene when Georgeanne and Trisha are having like a 4 page dialogue and the tempo is fast. There are alot of dialogue going back and forth at each other and it would make it hard for a non auditory learner to keep up.

-PEACE&LOVE

Walk 4ooo Miles in my shoes

It was something about 4ooo miles that made me like it a little more. I guess it was all the weirdness, kissing your step-sister, smoking pot...it's your typical soap opera.

Anywho, there are many motifs found in 4ooo miles. The motif I want to discuss is the lack of communication or simply the disconnect of the characters. There are many back-slashes (/) found in the script. We are told that a back-slash means they are talking over one another or a sentence is started in the middle of someone's line. Its clear that if they are always talking over one another that they are not taking the time to fully listen and understand each other. Another perfect example of the lack of communication in this play is when Vera does not have her hearing at in during certain times of the play, especially when she is sitting through the explanation about Micah's death. There were more of mis-communication and a lack that of, clearly making it a motif in 4ooo miles.