Michael Learned Joins Cast of Rubicon's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE

Four-time Emmy Award-winner Michael Learned had just been added to the rotating cast of Love, Loss and What I Wore (Love, Loss) which opens at Rubicon Theatre on April 16 and continues for a 5-week run through May 18.

Learned, best known for her role as Olivia Walton on "The Walton's," has appeared on Broadway in Gore Vidal's The Best Man, The Sisters Rosenweig and The Three Sisters. As a ground breaking artist, Learned appeared in numerous World Premieres such as Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Neil Simon's Actors and Actresses, Looking for Normal, and The Good Doctor. Appearing in various national tours, Learned was critically acclaimed for her runs with On Golden Pond, Edward Albee's Three Tall Women, Love Letters, and Driving Miss Daisy. For Rubicon, Learned played the title role in the company's NAACP Award-winning production of Driving Miss Daisy, presented on the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Witty and wise, Love, Loss is a celebration of womanhood adapted from the book by Ilene Beckerman by Nora and Delia Ephron, creators of such hits as "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail," "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," "Silkwood" and "Julie and Julia." Rubicon's production of the play features a diverse rotating cast of respected actors, including Tony, Obie, Golden Globe, L.A. Drama Critics Circle and Ovation Award-winners; favorite local artists; an NPR commentator, bestselling author and comic; and a State Senator. This funny, tender and compelling piece uses clothing as a metaphor for all the big moments in our lives. Through a series of intimate and genuine vignettes read by the talented cast, Love, Loss explores many aspects of the female experience and proves that great storytelling is always in fashion.

Other previously announced cast members in Rubicon's production include NPR's Sandra Tsing Loh (best-selling author and comedian), Emmy and Theatre Award-winner Nancy Dussault (Do Re Me, The Sound of Music, Side by Side by Sondheim and Into the Woods on Broadway), Emmy nominated Conchata Ferrell ("Two and a Half Men" and "L.A. Law") and JoBeth Williams ("Poltergeist," "The Big Chill," "Kramer vs. Kramer" and has been nominated for three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award).

Based on the 1995 bestselling book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman, Love, Loss was adapted for the stage by Nora and Delia Ephron. Through intricate stories divided into several monologues, this remarkable play uses clothing to describe the personal and sometimes profound experiences of women in American society. Accompanied by hand-drawn sketches of different clothing styles, the monologues are read by a rotating cast of five principal women led by the character of Gingy, whose stories serve as narration while intertwining among the stories of all the other women throughout the play.

Jenny Sullivan, the show's director and Rubicon's Artistic Associate, says the experience of Love, Loss "is like a heart-to-heart with close girlfriends over coffee... The conversations flow from a bittersweet story of a stepmother wearing the same style bathrobe as her husband's late wife (to the dismay of the children), to a couple's musings over what they wore on their wedding day, to a hilarious rant about purses as black holes. With odes to prom dresses, bra shopping, wearing black, Madonna-wannabe-attire, cowboy boots and outfits that make mothers cringe, Love, Loss is unabashedly female - in a great way."

Sullivan, an Artistic Associate at Rubicon, had many personal chats with the Ephron sisters with whom she grew up. (In fact, Sullivan is mentioned in Delia Ephron's most recent book of autobiographical essays, "Sister Mother Husband Dog") Sullivan also directed the West Coast premiere of Love, Loss at the Geffen Theatre in L.A.

"Some people call the show 'a chick flick for the stage' and it's a fair assessment," Sullivan continues. "It has all of the qualities of a great chick flick: relatable characters, quotable comedy and just the right amount of sentiment."

A great choice for everything from a girl's night out to a special mother-daughter event, Love, Loss is recommended for those 13 and older.

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