by Clare Boothe Luce
- Director: Barbara Gertzog
- Producer: Kevin Harnisch
- Technical Director: Chip Gertzog
- Stage Manager: John Coscia
- Set Design: Chip Gertzog & John Coscia
- Costume Design: Susan Devine & Donna Naybor
- Hair and Makeup Design: Beth Harrison, Robbie Snow & Geri Falek
Tina Thronson as Mary Haines in the Providence Players 2005 production of The Women
As a complement to our 2004-2005 season’s production of Twelve Angry Men, our first offering for the 2005-2006 Season was Claire Boothe Luce’s The Women, a witty satire about snobbish society matrons who disrupt each other’s marriages in the name of friendship and glorious self-absorption, in contrast to the women who work for them. The Women also concerned itself with the use and abuse of power by the upper crust and its rigid social order, and the consequences of living one’s life beholden to those expectations. This satirical comic masterpiece and Luce’s only play, written in 1936, takes place in the “woman’s world” (her powder room, her hair salon, boutique, and gilded bathroom), as well is in New York penthouses and Reno hotel rooms. It is above all a literary and visual feast.
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES
- Friday and Saturday 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29, 2005
- Sunday Matinees 2:00 p.m. Oct. 16 & 23, 2005
Playbill Cover for
The Women
Click for Larger Image
Under Barbara Gertzog’s direction, The Women featured a cast of 35 talented women, many making their Providence Players débuts, and many who have graced the PPF stage many times before and since. The play is staged in twelve discrete scenes and ten locations challenging even professional set designers and stage crews. PPF met these challenges with creative set design and smoothly flowing staging, punctuated with an outstanding musical score of Gershwin and Cole Porter tunes, that both overcame, and took advantage, of the constraints of James Lee Theater’s intimate stage.
CAST
(Marquee Photos for The Cast of The Women Here)
- Mary Haines: Tina Thronson
- Sylvia Fowler: Sara Bennett
- Edith Potter: Liz Mykietyn
- Peggy Day: Elizabeth Bates
- Nancy Black: Stephanie Hammel
- Crystal Allen: Cristin Guinan-Wiley
- Little Mary: Claire Whitehead and Hannah Konigsberg
- Countess De Lage: Nancy Thompson
- Miriam Aarons: Donna Naybor
Sara Bennett as Sylvia and Beth Whitehead as Princess Tamara
in the 2005 Providence Players Production of “The Women” - Lucy: Terri Hobson
- Olga the Manicurist: Paula Vickers
- Mrs. Morehead: Laurie Hinners
- Maggie, the cook: Janet Bartelmay
- Jane, the Maid: Molly Jacobson
- Miss Fordyce, the Nanny: Janice Dionne
- Exercise Instructress: Karla Leavelle
- Miss Watts, secretary: Gail Seavey
- 1st Hairdresser: Beth Harrison
- 2nd Hairdresser: Cindy Paska and Paula Rank
- Euphie: Caitlin Connolly and Denise DiSandro
- Pedicurist: Amanda Snow
- Mary’s Saleswoman: Joni Carluzzo
- Crystal’s Saleswoman: Paula Rank
- Princess Tamara: Beth Whitehead
- 1st Salesgirl: Denise DiSandro
- 2nd Salesgirl: Amanda Snow
- Miss Myrtle, the model: Beth Rodgers
- Miss Trimmerback, notary: Mary Goss
- Nurse: Doodie Brethwaite and Janice Dionne
- Sadie, powder room attendant: Robbie Snow
- Cigarette Girl: Mary Goss
- 1st Girl in powder room: Denise DiSandro
- 2nd Girl in powder room: Beth Rodgers
- 1st Society Lady in powder room: Joni Carluzzo
- 2nd Society Lady in powder room: Janice Dionne
- The Dowager: Janet Newlove
- The Debutante: Caitlin Connolly and Claire Coscia
- The Girl in Distress: Claire Coscia, Rachel Moreno, Marisa Paska and Caitlin Romig
Director Barbara Gertzog and The Cast of “The Women” – October 2005 Providence Players –
Photo by Chip Gertzog
Production Team
CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE
The PPF Website as it Appeared in
October 2005
- Director: Barbara Gertzog
- Producer: Kevin Harnisch
- Technical Director: Chip Gertzog
- Stage Manager: John Coscia
- Assistant Stage Manager: Robbie Snow
- Costume Design: Susan Devine and Donna Naybor
- Costume Assistant: Robbie Snow
- Seamstress: Aroxie Vanns
- Lighting Design: Chip Gertzog and Jimmy Gertzog
- Sound Design: Chip Gertzog and Barbara Gertzog
- Tech Crew: Tim Brown, Margaret Gertzog, Kevin Harnisch, Steve Lederer, David Whitehead
- Set Design: Chip Gertzog and John Coscia
- Properties: Chris Deering and Gerry Vans
- Set Construction: John Coscia and Chip Gertzog
- Set Painting Design: Chip and Barbara Gertzog
- Set Construction and Painting Crew: Janet Andrukonis, Matt Ames, Janet Bartelmay, Betsy Bates, Nick Bayer, Doodie Brethwaite, Beth Hughes-Brown, Tim Brown, John Coscia, Patrick David, Scott Devine, Joe Gargiulo, Charlotte Gertzog, Chip Gertzog, Jim Gertzog, Mike Gerwin, Bob Griendling, Stephanie Hammel, Kevin Harnisch, Beth Harrison, John Hinners, Margaret Kerr-McKown, Donna Konigsberg, Karla Leavelle, Chuck Mandelbaum, Mike Mattheisen, Liz Mykietyn, Rachel Moreno, Theda Parish, Cindy Paska, Paula Rank, Cathy Smith, Stephen Smith, Eric Snow, Robbie Snow, Al Thompson, Nancy Thompson, Tina Thronson, Paula Vickers, Jim Vickers, Sue Winfield, Beth Whitehead, Claire Whitehead, David Whitehead.
- Set Decoration: Chip and Barbara Gertzog and Beth Whitehead
- Set Decoration Assitants: Smitty Connolly and Laurie Hinners
- Hair and Makeup Design: Beth Harrison, Robbie Snow and Geri Falek
- Combat Choreography: Elizabeth MyKietyn
- Publicity: Bill Vander Clute, Chip Gertzog, Barbara Gertzog
- Photography: Chip Gertzog
Our 2005-2006 season brochure – our second full season at the James Lee Community Center Theater
The Bridge Ladies of “The Women”. L to R: Liz Mykietyn, Sara Bennett, Elizabeth Bates and Stephanie Hammel
Theater Creates Community & Dialog
Falls Church News Press Story on the PPF Production of The Women
Tina Thronson and Claire Whitehead in a scene from The Women
“Last Friday, the Falls Church area’s Providence Players opened their eighth season with a production of “The Women,” the 1936 society comedy by Clare Booth Luce. Despite the fact that the play features a cast of characters who scheme and squabble, the performance features the best of what neighborhood theater has to offer, a group of amateur actors who come together to present a vital art for a community. In its second year performing at the new James Lee Community Center theater on Annandale Road right outside the City of Falls Church , the group garnered its
largest audience yet for an opening night and packed the house for the Saturday show and the Sunday matinee as well.” – Falls Church News Press – October 20, 2005
The Cast and Production Team of PPF’s 2005 Production of “The Women”
Stephanie Hammel, Nancy Thompson and Donna Naybor
More than 70 people, cast and production team came together to produce The Women. The production was the first ever to be recognized with a Ruby Griffith Award and garnered First Runner-Up for Outstanding Achievement in a Play that season. The costumes in The Women were an elegant feast for the eyes and costume designers Susan Devine and Donna Naybor were recognized with a WATCH award nomination for Outstanding Costume Design for their work on the PPF production of The Women. In addition to the extensive background article, The Falls Church News Press editorial staff also highlighted the production in an Editor Recommends piece saying:
“What a delight to have a local theatre troupe do such a classic “art deco”-style play right here in Falls Church!… This is a must-see, and Falls Church folks have a perfect opportunity to support local theatre by showing up in droves for this. Check the ad in this week’s News-Press for times, dates and ticket information.” FCNP Editor Recommends Oct. 13, 2005
An early FCNP full page ad,
BEFORE color AND substantial DESIGN improvements!
The Falls Church News Press has been extraordinarily supportive of the Providence Players since our move to the James Lee Community Center and has been a significant force in helping build audiences and support for community theater in the greater Falls Church area.
Betsy Bates, Liz Mykietyn, Mary Goss and Robbie Snow
Tickets to Our Current PPF Production are Available Here
Cristin Guinan-Wiley as Crystal Allen and Tina Thronson as Mary Haines
Elizabeth Bates, Liz Mykietyn and Sara Bennett
That Incredible Set
The set of “The Women” set for Mary Haines’ living room.
One of PPF’s most unusual designs, and our first ever use of large sliding “barn style” doors and extensive use of wagons, hidden doorways and movable set sections, one WATCH Judge was overheard wondering if the set had actually been constructed or if what they were looking at was part of the basic theater stage structure. The set design for The Women featured a full stage wall trimmed to evoke the image of decco-style NYC high rise windowscapes, two enormous sliding doors decked out in diffusion plastic to allow lighting designers Chip and Jimmy Gertzog to change location by simply changing color through gently diffused back lighting (and allow the rapid movement of set pieces and whole set segments artfully managed by Stage Manager John Coscia and a well drilled running crew).
A color palate change in lighting, a wall placement adjustment, and some well placed furnishings and we are set for Sylvia and Miriam’s cat fight in Reno. L to R: Tina Thronson, Sarah Bennett and Donna Naybor
Nosey sales people in the fitting room scene.
Cristin Guinan-Wiley in her marble bath tub as Crystal Allen in “The Women”
The set of The Women also featured a full size “marble” bathtub. Here Amanda Snow as Helene, Crystal’s maid, assists Crystal in the tub.
The set included movable wall systems that were, in one moment, the framing structures of Mary’s living room, in another, the expanded boundaries of the Exercise Salon and when spun around from each side of the stage, became the interior of the boutique dressing room scene. The combination of lighting changes and rapidly moving set pieces (without Broadway’s mechanical systems!) enabled the Players to create the twelve scenes and ten settings, each with a differing sense of place and time, without putting audiences through interminable scene changes. It worked!
Set Construction for “The Women”
John Coscia, PPF Master Carpenter (and actor, stage manger and Board Member) at set construction for “The Women” with fellow company founder, Janet Bartelmay.
The Set for PPF’s “The Women” – October 2005
Plenty More Photos of the Providence Players Production of The Women Right Here
Photos by Chip Gertzog, Providence Players
Tickets for Our Next Production Available Online Here