The Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis is currently presenting the Indiana Premiere of Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora and Delia Ephron, now playing through August 11. The production is based on the memoir by Illene Beckerman and poignantly illuminates women, clothing and the memories that are indelibly connected to what we wear. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!
Made famous in its off-Broadway run, Love, Loss, and What I Wore explores five women and how their wardrobes relate to pivotal moments in their lives. The late Nora Ephron, celebrated as a successful screenwriter, director and essayist is most proud of this particular contribution to American Theatre. The show won a special Drama Desk Award and was nominated for two Drama League awards in 2010. Nora Ephron, in an interview in Huffington Post said "Everybody associated their clothing with an important event in their life - their divorce, their marriage, falling in love, their prom nights. It's just so powerful for women."
"This play comes from the award-winning writers of When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and Silkwood and just last year completed a hugely successful 2 ½-year New York run," says Phoenix Producing Director Bryan Fonseca. "The off-Broadway performances featured a stellar, rotating cast that included Tyne Daly, Rosie O'Donnell, Samantha Bee, Kristin Chenoweth, Jane Lynch, Rhea Perlman, Rita Wilson, Brooke Shields, and more. This production finishes out our 30th anniversary season, so our cast for the entire run includes five stellar actresses - each of whom had an important role in the history of the Phoenix."
Phoenix Theatre Producing Director Bryan Fonseca and director for Love, Loss, and What I Wore brought together Cindy Phillips, Lori Raffel, Sara Reimen, Gayle Steigerwald , and Milicent Wright for this 5-woman cast. Each of these actresses represent a part of performing history at The Phoenix Theatre - appropriate as it ends its 30th season with this show - except Raffel, who has never been on stage at the Phoenix (except for curtain speeches), but who has been on staff for five years and acted in other venues.
Nora Ephron was born on May 19, 1941 in New York City. Her essays initially grabbed attention in the early 1970s, and by the 1980s, she began to transition into screenwriting. Ephron wrote the screenplay for the romantic comedy classic When Harry Met Sally. Later, she wrote and directed Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and Julie & Julia (2009). Ephron died from pneumonia, caused by acute myeloid leukemia, on June 26, 2012, at the age of 71.
Writer-producer Delia Ephron spent the first part of her adult life denying herself of becoming what she felt she was always destined to do: write. Though her mother and father, Henry and Ph be Ephron, were successful playwrights and screenwriters, and sister Nora later blazed her own path through Hollywood, writing When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Ephron avoided the family trade. But at 31, she finally caved to pressure-mainly from Nora-when she wrote a series of essays for the New York Times Book Review. Eventually she segued into screenwriting and worked with her sister on several film projects, becoming the quieter half of a powerful Hollywood team."
Sara Reimen, Milicent Wright, Lori Raffel
Gayle Steigerwald, Sara Reimen, Milicent Wright, Lori Raffel, Cindy Phillips
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