Take A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” cross it with Robert Harling’s “Steel Magnolias,” and you will find yourself at the crossroads of “Lark Eden,” a small town in Georgia where three young girls named Thelma, Emily, and Mary secretly pass notes back and forth to each other during class when their teacher isn’t looking.
These grade school notes are just the first among many letters that will follow throughout their lifelong friendship, which spans across some of the most significant historical events of the 20th century, including: the Great Depression, the Second World War, the assassination of president Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and beyond into the 21st century.
Thelma (played by Teri Lazzara) is the staunchly religious one who marries at 18, has a houseful of children, and is a grandmother by age 35.
Emily (played by Katie Driscoll) is the quiet, but contemplative one who likes to write poetry, marries the one and only man who ever showed her much attention, and suffers from a bit of melancholia when life doesn’t turn out to be as sweet as she had once hoped for.
And finally, there is Mary (played by Michelle Chiachiere), the fiery and feisty one with a good sense of humor despite the setbacks that life has repeatedly doled out to her, — setbacks which ultimately forced her to quit school when her father died, and then move away from Lark Eden in order to take care of her depressed mother and sickly grandmother whom she adoringly calls “prune face.”
The play, which is as sweet as a Georgia peach, was written and directed by former Seattleite, Natalie Symons, and is apparently slated for a potential off-Broadway run. It seems to be a crowd-pleaser, gauging from the audience’s response; there were a lot of teary-eyed women exiting from the Schmee after the show was over on Friday night.
It is a good script, — funny, emotionally complex, and engaging – but I also felt that it was predictable and not especially innovative. Like I said before, if you have seen “Love Letters” and “Steel Magnolias,” then you have basically seen “Lark Eden.”
As for this particular production, scenic designer, Al Angel, went for a simple, minimalist approach. The set consists of merely three stools in front of which are three music stands from which the actresses read. There is a lattice siding from which Spanish moss hangs and fuchsia curtains that frame the stage. The sound design by Doug Stanley punctuates the passage of time with some of the most popular music of the day: jazz and blues, 50s rock, etc.
The three actresses who play Thelma, Emily, and Mary all did a fine job portraying the characters as they progress through life from childhood to old age. I appreciated the fact that they didn’t go to the extremes and give us caricatures, but I think the costume designer could have added subtle changes in costume throughout the show in order to better punctuate the passage of time.
All in all, “Lark Eden” is a pleasant evening of theatre, and should be very pleasing to those who like a lot of sentimentality in their drama.
“Lark Eden” plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday March 16 – April 14 at 8 pm at Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave. Phone: 206-324-5801. www.schmeater.org