CONWAY — What woman doesn’t remember her wedding gown or how she felt wearing it? Or maybe it’s the prom dress she wore in high school that evokes memories.
It’s those kinds of experiences and memories that are the crux of the next Conway Community Arts Association production at the Lantern Theatre in Conway.
Late Night at the Lantern Theatre and Conway Community Arts Association will present Love, Loss and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron from the book by Ilene Beckerman at 8 p.m. June 30, July 1 and 2 and again July 7-9 at the Lantern Theatre, 1021 Van Ronkle St. in downtown Conway.
Love, Loss and What I Wore is part of the Late Night at the Lantern series. Because of some language and adult content, the play is recommended for ages 18 and older.
Liz Parker of Conway, veteran actor and director with Conway Community Arts Association, directs the show. Stage management is by Allison Hallett and sound design is by Ashley Carnahan, both of Conway.
Parker said Love, Loss and What I Wore is a series of monologues and short scenes each depicting articles of women’s clothing, which trigger important memories and events in the lives of women.
“Funny and poignant, the stories range from buying bras, bridal gowns and funeral attire to paper dresses, purses and shoes, and, of course, moms who criticize,” Parker said.
The all-female cast includes some veteran actors with the community theater troupe, one or two who have not been seen in quite a while, and a few new faces to the Lantern stage.
Among the longtime players with CCAA and the Lantern Theatre are:
• Wendy Shirar of Conway, who plays Gingy, the only named character.
Gingy is the narrator of the story who sketches various parts of her wardrobe as she tells her story along with other stories.
“This role is a big challenge for me,” Shirar said. “I have an enormous amount of lines to learn, and I don’t have an opportunity to leave the stage until intermission.”
Shirar last appeared in the January Conway Community Arts Association production of Almost, Maine, also directed by Parker. She works in the human resources department at Acxiom Corp., where she has been employed for 14 years.
• Cindy Romeo of Conway, who most recently directed Smoke on the Mountain. She also directed God of Carnage in 2014 as part of the Late Night at the Lantern series; that production won state, regional and national American Association of Community Theaters Festival honors. Her acting credits with the arts association include A … My Name is Alice.
Romeo, who has served on the Conway Community Arts Association Board of Directors, teaches English at Conway Junior High School.
• Jeannie Denniston of Morrilton, who said she is “the old lady … the grandmother” of the cast.
“I just want to say that if the guys want to score points, they will bring their ladies to see this play,” she said. “The women will love it — and the men will like it, too.
“It’s wonderful,” she said.
Denniston is a part-time district judge in Conway County and a part-time attorney in Morrilton.
Among those actors who have not appeared in a recent Conway Community Arts Association productions are:
• Penny Hatfield of Conway, who has not appeared in an arts association play in 12 years — since 2004 when she was in Love Letters by A.R. Gurney.
“I didn’t have to wear glasses when I read the script then, and I do now,” she said, laughing. “I can’t remember passwords now … why do I think I can remember lines?”
Hatfield, who is director of advancement communications at the University of Central Arkansas, is a former member of the Conway Community Arts Association board of directors.
She said Love, Loss and What I Wore is “funny, very poignant.
“We all react to clothes that we have worn,” she said. “I can relate to the characters. I remember my mother always wanted me to wear things that I did not want to wear.
“I read the book, and then I read the play,” Hatfield said when asked why she decided to audition for this play. “I loved the play. Plus, it meant I got the opportunity to work with Liz.
“So I jumped right on it,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to work with Liz but I was never able to work it into my schedule. But now … the timing is right.”
• Libbi Whitehurst, who has not appeared in a CCAA production since 2014. She last appeared in Pageant Play, which was also directed by Parker.
“This is a lot of fun,” said Whitehurst, who is vice president of human resources at Acxiom Corp., where she has been employed for 28 years. “Being in an all-women cast is a lot of fun. All of the topics we talk about are related to women. I remember my mother saying a lot of things that are said in this play.
“Although this play is about women, men will enjoy seeing it,” she said. “There are a lot of laughs in it.”
Among the new, and almost new, faces in the cast of Love, Loss and What I Wore are:
• Madison Ledbetter of Malvern, who is new to the Lantern Theatre. She is a 2015 graduate of UCA with a degree in theater.
“I was one of Liz’s students,” Ledbetter said. (Parker was business manager for UCA Theatre for many years as well as an active participant in CCAA.) “My first show with her at UCA was King of the Ice Cream Mountain.”
Parker said Ledbetter was “the who brought this play to my attention, not knowing she would end up with a part in it.”
Ledbetter said she “found” the play at a theater convention she attended during her senior year in college.
“I just pitched it to them [Conway Community Arts Association Board of Directors],” she said. “I thought it would be really good.
“I relate to things that happen in Love, Loss and What I Wore as a daughter,” Ledbetter said. “I am sure my mother has said many of the same things to me as the mothers in this play say to their daughters.”
Ledbetter teaches theater at Blackbird Academy in Conway. She said she is getting married soon and will be moving to Morrilton.
• Twyla Tate of Little Rock, who is also making her debut with the Lantern Theatre. She teaches fourth grade at Pulaski Heights Elementary School in Little Rock.
“I’ve done a couple of shows with The Royal Theatre in Benton and with Community Theatre of Little Rock, but not in the past three years,” she said. “I saw an audition notice on Facebook for this play … and got a part.
“I like shows that have all women,” she said. “This is really fun. I see it from a daughter’s point of view.”
• Erin Henderson of Conway, who made her debut with CCAA in January when she appeared in Almost, Maine.
She describes Loss, Love and What I Wore as “hysterical.”
“There is so much that everyone will be able to relate to,” she said. “No matter how old or young … no matter where you are in life, there is something that you will be able to relate to.”
Henderson is a respiratory therapist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. She graduated from Conway High School in 2002. She attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and graduated from the respiratory therapy program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Tickets to Love, Loss and What I Wore are $15 each. Tickets to Lantern Theatre productions are now handled online only by visiting the web site www.conwayarts.org and clicking on Tickets.