"Five Women" Leaves You Laughing at Triangle

Posted by Bruce Miller

There’s another fun show in town that you may want to see. It’s called Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and it’s produced by the Richmond Triangle Players. A large contingent of theatre types near and dear to Barksdale's heart (Brian Baez, Sherry Burgess, Jason Campbell, Dorothy Holland, David Janeski, Billy Christopher Maupin, Robyn O’Neill, Jeanie Rule, Janine Serresseque, Brad Tuggle, Aly Wepplo and I) went to cheer on our pals Noreen Barnes (director) and Monica Dionysiou, Stephanie Dray, Amanda Durst and Jenny Jones Hundley (cast) on their Opening Night. A good time was had by all.

Noreen Barnes did a beautiful job directing a script that is an early work by Alan Ball, who went on to write the screenplay for the Oscar-winning American Beauty and the much acclaimed HBO series, Six Feet Under. Under her steady hand, this early script rolls along from one laugh to the next. The cast is terrific. In addition to the wonderfully talented quartet of women mentioned above, Chandra Hopkins and Danny Devlin deliver enjoyable performances.

The five bridesmaid dresses by Leon Wiebers are all appropriately flouncy, and the plenteous laughs were balanced by a few dramatic turns that all worked well. Personally, I’ll never get enough of Stephanie Dray and Jenny Jones Hundley on stage, and they both have major roles in this show. It’s worth the price of admission just to hear a duet of their infectious laughs.

Triangle makes a huge contribution to Metro Richmond’s cultural life. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be an American bridesmaid in the early 90s, this is the show for you. But move fast; it runs only through May 5.

--Bruce Miller