By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
photo by Ryan Fagan
Good friends, from left, are Marlafaye (Rhonda Hallquist), Dot (Joanne Mack Robertson), Randa (Carrie Hill) and Jinx (Annette Hillman), bonding over libations.
Some of the older kids over at Live Theatre Workshop are having big fun with their sassy production of “The Savannah Sipping Society” by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the all-female cast directed by Sabian Trout plays women whose lives have taken a turn for the worst, leaving them to wonder what the heck could happen next after their husbands dumped them, or died before enjoying their retirement years or just never seemed much interested in marriage.
So of course, “The Savannah Sipping Society” is a comedy – one that hits a very high JPM (jokes per minute). These are spirited women after all, armed with a weaponized sense of humor. Maybe they were down for the count before, but once together they find new vigor in being themselves.
If this was a story of men at war, their dialogue would be called “fox hole humor,” biting and sarcastic, using punch lines to pump up their bravery.
But in present day Savannah, where a patina of propriety gets spread around like butter to make everything a little better, using a swift uppercut to emphasize your opinion just wouldn't be considered ladylike.
Their story begins in a downtown juice bar where Randa (Carrie Hill), Dot (Joanne Mack Robertson) and Marlafaye (Rhonda Hallquist) have withdrawn to recover from their introductory class in the wonders of Hot Yoga, They all agreed it wasn't so hot.
But they do share an appreciation for each other's quick-hitting humor. As Dot points out, being calm all the time does have its shortcomings.
“If it wasn't for mood swings,” she says, “ I'd never get any exercise.”
So Randa invites these new friends to meet again, but this time on her spacious veranda, to share libations that were more energizing than that fruit juice. Dot also brings along another friend, the restlessly peripatetic Jinx (Annette Hillman), who has spent her entire adult life running from entangling alliances.
Now the race is on as each tries to top the others telling her own rueful tale.
Randa was a professional workaholic, for 30 years a driven architect who finally had a nervous breakdown. She came back to work only to discover she'd been replaced by “a 30-year-old twit who wears bow ties.”
Dot, more politely understated, had a husband who kept putting off any good times or vacation trips until he retired. When he did finally retire he died shortly afterward. Dot could never forgive him – or herself.
Marlafaye, a bourbon drinking Texan by birth, was a loyal wife and dental assistant to her husband the dentist. Then she was suddenly dumped, for a new 23-year-old dental assistant.
Jinx, whose inability to ever face any conflict made her an expert at offering advise to others, brings all the stories together. She had run away from more problems, moved to so many new cities, there was no situation she couldn't comment on from experience.
As we listen, it is impossible not to sympathize with each of them for a different reason, including the one dedicated to staying single and drinking doubles. It's in the telling of their stories that each begins to realize she can't depend on anyone else for her happiness.
They will all have to go out and get it for themselves.
“The Savannah Sipping Society” runs through Nov. 12 at Live Theatre Workshop, 3322 E. Fort Lowell Rd. with performances at 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays. Tickets are $23 general admission, $21 for military, seniors and students. For details and reservations, www.livetheatreworkshop.org or phone 520-327-4242.
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