Relationships, healing and community are the three words that make this year's Company of Fools' Summer Fools Festival of rotating repertory theater inspiring and a must see. The Fools will open their four weeks of non-stop theater on Saturday, July 4, and continue through Sunday, Aug. 2.
"It's an interesting collection of three plays and a grouping of themes buried in all three plays," said Company of Fools core member R.L. Rowsey while he was rotating giant sets on the Liberty Theatre stage in Hailey.
The festival begins Saturday, July 4, with the musical "110 in the Shade," based on "The Rainmaker" by N. Richard Nash, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, followed by the endearing play "Steel Magnolias" by Ron Harling and the powerful contemporary drama "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" by Julie Marie Myatt. All three plays will be performed six nights a week in repertory. Several of the cast members are also rotating between productions as performers.
"'110 in the Shade" is a wonderful story that takes place in the 1930s during a drought.
"It reveals a story about a family and its relationships as well as the desperate search to love, give love and be loved," said Rachel Abrams, who plays Lizzie. "It has very relevant issues —it's timeless."
"Steel Magnolias" by Robert Harlig, which opens on Tuesday, July 7, is set in a beauty salon in rural Louisiana and covers nearly three years in the lives of six women. The hilarious play stars Jana Arnold, Anna Johnson, Kelly Kennedy, Claudia McCain, Jennifer Jacoby Rush and Aly Wepplo, who all feature alluring southern accents.
"We are a sisterhood, and it's magical," said Arnold, who plays Ousier Boudreaux. "We started at a higher level than most rehearsals processes, and it is a thrill."
McCain, who plays Clairee Belcher, was born in Shreveport, La., where the play is set, and once met Harlig's parents. She brings firsthand knowledge to the play.
"This really happened in life," McCain said. "To recreate it as art is a beautiful thing. It's also a really funny show."
The Fools will also present an important new play, "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" by Julie Marie Myatt, which will open Thursday, July 16. The play is about a wounded Marine sergeant who returns from Iraq and finds herself lost in the California desert near the Salton Sea and surrounded by the inhabitants of "Slab City."
"It's about self-acceptance, relationships and the importance of family," said Michelle Carter, who plays Jenny Sutter. "It is very interesting because the play is about healing, and people heal in many different ways."
The play is not political, about war or the government and it does not preach, said Cliff Todd, who plays Buddy. "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" has not been widely performed, but its plot is current and relevant.
Tickets for the Summer Fools Festival are $25 adults, $18 seniors (62 and over), $10 students (18 and under) and $18 per ticket for groups of six or more and students in the group are $10. The Fools have festival passes, flex passes, pay-what-you-feel preview evenings, educator nights and, new for this year, Girlfriends Night Out for "Steel Magnolias." For details on show dates, times and all ticket prices and packages, visit www.companyoffools.org or call 578-9122.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
In a photo by Kirsten Shultz, Lou played by Denise Simone and Jenny played by Michelle Carter perform in “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter” for the Company of Fools.
