Actor's Playground Members to Perform 'Uncommon Women and Others'

I wrote an article about a few months ago and enjoyed reading the many enthusiastic comments Freehold Patch received on his behalf.

Recently, I received an email from him loaded with excitement. It seems he has undertaken a production of Wendy Wasserstein’s first successful play Uncommon Women and Others and the result has “blown him away.” He proudly informed me that his cast of high school-aged young women had captured the spirit of the work. As I was familiar with the dialogue and the thematic twists in this particular play, I realized the breadth of that achievement.

Uncommon Women and Others was written during a period when feminism released a frenzy of creativity that allowed women to artistically free themselves. The pay is required reading in Feminism 101 at Rutgers. There is no other work that has done more to explain the issues that women face.

As in Wasserstein’s famed Heidi Chronicles, the female protagonists are strong-willed, intelligent and funny. Colombino has successfully used the play as a teaching tool for the past 20 years. This year, his students responded so strongly to the material that they begged him to put it on. 

Colombino worked with Wasserstein in 1988 and holds her talent and professionalism in high regard. She actually visited the school to empower the groups working with her material with an understanding of the time period and her motivation behind writing her plays. Her untimely death in 2005 has silenced a great talent. Her Pulitzer Prize means very little if young women today are not familiarized with her work.

Colombino encourages us to spend the evening with this masterful author. It is a perfect opportunity for mothers and daughters, sisters and cousins to have an enjoyable and uplifting time. Husbands, boyfriends and dads are invited too.

The Actors Playground production of Uncommon Women and Others opens at the theater on Friday, June 24 at 8 p.m.  Performances on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. are also scheduled. Tickets cost $8. The theater is located at 922 State Highway 33 Business Route, Building Seven, Suite 7 in Freehold. For more information, call 732-935-1800.