William Peace Theatre turns to comedy for the third installment of its 2017-18 season, Alan Ball’s 1993 Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. The production runs five performances February 15 - 18 in Leggett Theatre in the Main Building of the William Peace University campus.
Taking place during a Tennessee wedding reception, five bridesmaids duck out of the proceeding to take refuge in an upstairs bedroom. All are wearing identical, hideous, dresses and hats. Each has a reason for hiding out and, as they eventually discover, each has a reason to dislike the bride below. As they talk, cry, argue, laugh, and console each other, they form new bonds of friendship. It’s a truly heartwarming display of the importance of female friendships and empowerment.
Alan Ball is best known for his 1999 screenplay for the Academy Award-winning film American Beauty (which won Best Picture & Best Original Screenplay, among others), and also for creating the acclaimed television shows Six Feet Under (which earned Ball an Emmy for Best Director) and True Blood on HBO. Ball also worked as a writer for the network TV shows Grace Under Fire and Cybill.
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is directed by Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre and Theatre, Amy White. She was last seen on stage regionally in Raleigh Little Theatre’s productions of One Man, Two Guvnors and Stick Fly. In recent years she directed The Wild Party (2017), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2017), The Laramie Project (2016) and directed/choreographed Green Day’s American Idiot (2016) for William Peace Theatre. She also presented research on the mutual impact of LGBTQIA legislation and the performing arts at The American University of Paris with WPU Criminal Justice Professor, Dr. Elizabeth Kusko. White has worked in professional theatre for over a decade, in New York off-Broadway and in touring productions. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre with a minor in Dance from the State University of New York at Fredonia, along with a MFA in Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design.