to the ladies!

Nine women.  All telling a story.  Not the same story, and yet, relatable to other women on so many levels.  Some of them were experienced.  Some of them, a virginal foray.  All of them anxious to express the author's feelings and beliefs; her fears and jubilations.  All dressed in black with just a hint of color.  And those lips.  Those red, red lips.  And now it's over.  Each has gone her own way, hopefully the richer for the experience and glowing just a bit in the audience reaction to what they have done.  And I?  I was the lucky one.  I got to watch them grow and improve and become someone they weren't, yet, on a deeper level, someone they were!  I know--it doesn't make sense that they could be both, but I think it's the true power of the show.  They were able to do the most important thing a person can do.  They were able to help others see that they are not alone.  They have similar fears, similar desires, similar needs.  What an eclectic group.  And yet, for two magical nights this week, they were an ensemble, supporting each other, sharing with each other, and bringing the theatre to life.  And while the premise was a simple exercise in drawing different dresses, they instead drew the complex, funny, sad, threatening, tumultuous, endearing thing called life.  Here's to the women who act.  Here's to the cast of Love, Loss, and What I Wore.  Here's to "everywoman" whose lives inspire and teach, who laughs and cries, and who manages to take care of each other and us men who love them!  Ladies, it was a hell of a ride!  Thank you!  And always know that you are loved!