Review: FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS at Nutley Little Theatre

This past Friday night, Nutley Little Theatre presented "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress." Written by Alan Ball, (creator of Six Feet Under and screenwriter of American Beauty,) the play is a comedy/drama that takes place on the day of the wedding of a woman named Tracy. The five women of the title are Tracy's friends and relatives who are serving as her five bridesmaids, though in truth, none of them like her much. During the course of the play, these five discover secrets and truths about themselves and each other. The play takes place in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1993.

This hilarious production, mixed with a few serious moments is Directed by Alex Oleksij of Nutley. The actors involved are Anne Bobis as Meredith and Kristina Zaturoska as Frances, both of Lincoln Park; Ahmet Bidav of Clifton as Tripp; Ruth Kliwinski of Bloomfield as Mindy; Julie Anne Nolan of Little Falls as Trisha; and Andrea Thibodeau of Westfield as Georgeanne.

Kristina Zaturoska, who made her debut at NLT with this production, says she is a fan of playwright Alan Ball. "I had not read the play until I was auditioning and I fell in love with it... I really love the writer Alan Ball who wrote 'Six Feet Under' and 'True Blood' so I was huge fan of his work from the start." One of the struggles she faced with her character Frances was was the physicality of the role. "The one thing about this character is that there aren't many lines so it's all about your reactions towards what's happening on stage...body language is a big thing so trying to figure out how to react and how to stand and what to do with the blocking was a challenge." Zaturoska didn't know anyone else in the cast at first but said "We met up a few days to get more practice... everyone in this cast is so nice so we bonded right away."

Director Alex Oleksij spoke about what helped him decide on choosing this particular show, "This show is fun and it has really great characters in it...Dover Little Theatre did it about six years ago so when I was looking for something to do here I thought about this show, got the script, read it and said 'This is a really fun play!'" He also spoke about his actors, "This cast was fabulous. I have rarely had so much fun and such an easy time directing a show. I've hardly given them any notes, they found their characters soon and it was a pleasure to come to the theater every night." His audition process for this show consisted of having the actors read scenes from the show, "I had them read scenes and sides from the show because I actually wanted to hear how they say the lines and how they interpret them."

The crew includes Janis Wolf and Geri Roati as stage manager and assistant stage manager respectively. Marion Brady is the costume designer. Set and Lighting Design by Alex Oleksij, Sound Design by Kay Koch, Sound/Light Board Operators by Ann Kenny Simpson and Sev Gorucu.

"Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" runs for another 2 weekends: April 20, 21, 26, 27 & 28 at 8:00 PM as well as April 22 and 28 at 2:00 PM.

Tickets $18.00 - A $2 discount is available at matinees for senior citizens and students.

For tickets, please call 1-212-868-4444 or visit: https://www.smarttix.com/Modules/Sales/SalesMainTabsPage.aspx?SalesEventId=6747

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Nutley Little Theatre is located at 47 Erie Place in Nutley, New Jersey.

To learn more about Nutley Little Theatre, please visit: http://nutleylittletheatre.com

Next on stage at NLT is Donald Margulies' "Dinner With Friends" this June.

Photo Credit: Alex Oleksij

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