Women First

After a couple of relatively dry weeks, a plethora of plays began opening throughout Ventura County last weekend. They’ll all be covered here eventually, but first let’s hear from the women: “Quilters” at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center and “The Cover of Life” at the Petit Playhouse in Oxnard.

Between them, the plays feature 18 actors, all but one of them female. Both were directed by women, and both may have been written by women (the playwright of “Life” coyly goes by the name R.T. Robinson).

“Quilters” has been performed a couple of times locally within the past decade; it’s a musical wherein a group of pioneer women tells about life on the prairie, stories alternating with songs. Barbara Damashek, who wrote most of the music, co-wrote the script with Molly Newman, based on authentic diaries.

The women did what you’d expect: kept house, had babies, raised children, performed first aid, went to church, dealt with death and so on. One even finishes the house she has been building with her (now-dead) husband. But most of all, evidently, they made quilts, based on their own designs and patched together from scraps of cloth. It was quite an impressive art form, as the lobby display by the Simi Valley Quilt Guild amply demonstrates.

The play, directed and choreographed by Dani Brown (it’s her fifth production of the musical, though the first she’s done by herself), shows considerably more humor than previous local stagings of the show, which helps a lot. It’s presented imaginatively by a large ensemble of females, most of them in their teens.

Lists are abhorrent, but some actors here play more than one role, none is really the star and all deserve recognition. The ensemble consists of Erin, Natalie and Robin Bologna, Erin Cariker, Jan Glasband, Katie Hearn, Molly McCormick, Stephanie Mittel, Mindy Mittelman, Debbie Sachs and Rachel Valadez. Gary Poirot plays piano, with Dave Winstone and Alan Deane adding tasteful atmosphere on guitar, mandolin and banjo. Jerry Ursetti directed the vocal music.

*

DETAILS

“Quilters” continues through July 18 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings and 2:30 p.m. Sundays, including July 4. Tickets for almost all performances are $12; $10, seniors and students; and $8, children 12 and under--except this Sunday, when audience members 55 and older will be admitted for $8. For more information or reservations, call 581-9940.

*

“THE COVER OF LIFE” IN OXNARD: The Etc. Theatre company’s current production, “The Cover of Life,” is set during WWII in “Steel Magnolias” territory--rural northern Louisiana. Shortly after getting married, three brothers simultaneously enlist in the service, leaving their young wives to stay home with their mother-in-law. Word of this gets to Life magazine publisher Henry Luce, who senses a story, which he assigns to ace reporter Kate Miller.

A seasoned war correspondent who’s close enough to Luce to refer to him as “Harry,” Miller views this as demeaning--a “women’s” story. Nevertheless, she hies her big-city attitude down to the sticks and finds a bunch of . . . well, steel magnolias. Some of them, at least.

Again, the cast is pretty much a well-matched ensemble, with several of the actors appearing as welcome new faces in local theater. Anna Michaels, Karina Janovsky and Jody Anne Epstein play the three sisters; Kristie Griff is the New York-based reporter (one of the few working for Life to double as a photographer); Madelon Hendel is the mother-in-law; Sherrill Silk plays a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune; and Andrew Hibbard plays the only one of the husbands to put in an appearance.

Predictable after a fashion, the play is empowering as all get-out and well acted under Doreen Lacy’s direction.

*

DETAILS

“The Cover of Life” continues through July 17 at the Petit Playhouse, 730 South B St. in Oxnard’s Heritage Square. Performances are at 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, except July 4, when there will be no show. Tickets are $12; $10, seniors. For reservations (recommended) or further information, call 483-5118.

*

Todd Everett can be e-mailed at [email protected].