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By HILARY KRAUS
Special to the Guide
Fans of live performances will have a variety of plays to choose from over the next two weekends as the spring theater season is in full bloom. From Beaufort to Sun City Hilton Head to Hilton Head Island, the stage door is open. Here’s what’s up on the marquee:
‘The Vagina Monologues’
Sponsored by the University of South Carolina-Beaufort student life office
• WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m, Saturday
• WHERE: University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Center for the Arts, 801 Carteret St., Beaufort
• COST: $12; $10 seniors; $6 students. Available at the door
• WHAT IT'S ABOUT: An episodic collection of 16 women’s stories. Author Eve Ensler’s first draft of the monologues was in 1996, after interviewing hundreds of women in New York and writing about their stories.
• DIRECTOR AND CAST: Megan Shreve, human services student at University of South Carolina Beaufort is directing for the second year. The cast includes 18 women, most with no acting experience, who attended an audition where everyone was given a part. The women range in age from 19 to 64.
• BEHIND THE SCENES: The production is a charity event for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Ensler and her friends launched V-Day in 1994 to raise money for women’s anti-violence groups through “The Vagina Monologues.” Hope Haven of the Lowcountry and Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse will receive 45 percent of the play’s profits. The college’s production raised $3,000 last year.
‘70, Girls, 70’
Presented by Sun City Community Theatre
• WHEN: 7:30 p.m tonight-Saturday and Thursday-April 1; 2 p.m Sunday and April 2
• WHERE: Magnolia Hall, Sun City Hilton Head
• COST: $23
• DETAILS: 843-645-2700 (9 to 11 a.m.)
• WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A play within a play in which actors interact with the audience. The plot involves a group of spunky 70-year-old retirees who steal furs from New York City stores with the intent of reselling them so they can afford to buy their residence, which is up for sale.
• DIRECTOR AND CAST: Sun City resident Carol Wroblewski spent 25 years teaching acting and directing high school theater in Michigan. She directed Sun City productions of “Grease,” “The Boyfriend” and “Same Time Next Year.” Anrose Perlstein is musical director for the Sun City Singers. The cast includes 18 Sun City residents.
• BEHIND THE SCENES: The publicity committee pulled a fast one on a 70th-birthday celebration in February at Sun City. A Beaufort County deputy sheriff interrupted the party when he stopped in to investigate “rumors about possible thefts at Sun City.” Turned out, the law enforcer was doing a little acting of his own, working with publicity chairman Ed Grieve to stage the hoax.
‘The Dining Room’
Presented by Misspent Youth Productions
• WHEN: 8 p.m. tonight-Saturday and Thursday-April 2; 3 p.m. Sunday and April 3
• WHERE: ARTworks, 2127 Boundary St., Beaufort
• COST: $15; $10 for students 13 and older; $5 for children younger than 12; $10 a person for groups of 10 or more; Thursdays are “pay what you can.”
• DETAILS: 843-379-2787, www.artworksinbeaufort.org
• WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A series of 18 overlapping scenes from different households spanning 80 years. The play takes place in the same dining room of an affluent Northeastern home. The comedy, which was written by A.R. Gurney, opened in New York in 1981.
• DIRECTOR AND CAST: Gail Westerfield has 30 years of directorial experience. Her company Misspent Youth Productions is a resident theater group at ARTworks. The cast includes six actors who play 57 different characters, from 5- to 90-year-olds.
• BEHIND THE SCENES: Cast members found useful ways when downsizing their homes by donating the dining room table and chairs, antique glassware, flatware and dishes to be used in the play.
‘Eleemosynary’
Presented by South Carolina Repertory Company
• WHEN: 8 p.m. tonight, Saturday, Wednesday-Thursday, April 1-2, 5-6, 7-9; 2 p.m. Sunday and April 3, 10
• WHERE: South Carolina Repertory Company, 136 Beach City Road, Hilton Head Island
• COST: $24-$28; $15 students
• DETAILS: 843-342-2057, www.hiltonheadtheatre.com
• WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A three-character play chronicling the stories of three generations of women. Lee Blessing wrote the one-act play in 1985.
• DIRECTOR AND CAST: Director and scene designer Chip Egan is dean emeritus of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University, and a frequent SCRC guest artist. Pat Haskell, artistic director at SCRC, plays the family matriarch. Jan Haskell-Mohr and Ella Cuda play her daughter and granddaughter, respectively. Cuda is a senior at Hilton Head Island High School.
• BEHIND THE SCENES: Haskell became a fan of “Eleemosynary” when she saw it performed at the 1989 Spoleto Festival. She later starred in a Dunagans Alley production of it. Ever since the founding of South Carolina Repertory Company in 1992, Haskell has looked for an opportunity to revive the play.