UW Summer Theatre and Dance Festival Opens with Comedy

May 25, 2010

The University of Wyoming 2010 Snowy Range Summer Theatre and Dance Festival kicks off with the comedy "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking," June 8-12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre.

Tickets for the play, directed by Professor Rebecca Hilliker, cost $10 for the public, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

John Ford Noonan's lively comedy is about an uptight suburban housewife whose Better Homes and Garden world is turned upside down by a raucous new neighbor who insists on befriending her.

A long-running Off-Broadway hit starring Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan, "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking" takes place in the suburban Westchester County, N.Y., kitchen of Maude Mix.

Hilliker notes the play came out about 30 years ago (helping to establish Sarandon as a star), and even though the setting and characters are definitely late 1970s to early 1980s, it's funny in any time frame.

"This is a really fun play, very light-hearted and bright," she says. "It's a great piece for a ladies' night out or a date night."

At the start, Maude is decidedly having a tough day. Her husband is off on another weekend spree with yet another secretary and Maude can't get rid of her pesky new neighbor, Hannah Mae Binder, who has just moved up from Texas and is determined Maude will be her new best buddy. Hannah Mae, a former cheerleader married to a lout of a former football hero, badgers Maude into friendship with her daily uninvited forays into Maude's kitchen for gourmet coffee.

"Our production highlights the differences between the uptight Maude and easygoing Hannah Mae," says Hilliker. "Hannah Mae can just move into someone else's territory and not think twice about it, while for Maude, her kitchen really is her safe haven," she adds.

The two unlikely pals eventually join forces against their errant and erring husbands to set things right. The play emphasizes that fulfillment can come from the most unlikely people and places.

"One of the nice things about this piece is that by the end of the play, Maude has figured out what her problems are and she's ready to move on, man or no man, and Hannah Mae has gained some insight into her marriage as well," says Hilliker.



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