Directing Three Tall Women has given Terence Kelly new insights into women and aging.
鈥淢y mother is 95 and she鈥檚 in care and I hear reverberations and reflections of when I go and visit my mom鈥� It just gives another level of understanding about what older people go through,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t takes away some of the terror, somehow, of becoming old.鈥�
Edward Albee鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning play isn鈥檛 about sentimentality and sorrow. It portrays an acerbic old woman who lies dying and includes 鈥渇rank dialogue about everything from incontinence to infidelity,鈥� according to the production鈥檚 press bumph.
Western Gold Theatre will bring Three Tall Women to life at PAL Studio Theatre, Oct. 23 to Nov. 9.
Theatregoers will meet a 92-year-old woman, a middle-aged woman who鈥檚 a caregiver, and a bright, young lawyer. They鈥檙e separate characters in the first act but the same everywoman at different ages in the second act.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going through their lives and their loves and their losses and it鈥檚 quite mad actually,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hysterically funny in places and in other places, it鈥檚 very moving.鈥�
Veteran actress Anna Hagan plays the elderly woman.
鈥淎 lot of the humour comes from the old lady and nowadays we鈥檙e so politically correct it鈥檚 like, oh my God, you can鈥檛 laugh at that,鈥� Hagan said. 鈥淲ell, you can and you do.鈥�
Hagan, artistic director of Western Gold Theatre, wanted to produce this play that earned multiple awards in 1994 because there鈥檚 a dearth of roles for older women, a scarcity of substantial roles for women in general and she loves the language in Albee鈥檚 plays.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of yummy to get your tongue around some of these words and Albee鈥檚 a brilliant wordsmith,鈥� she said of the playwright who saw three of his plays win Pulitzers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a gift to be able to work with the people I鈥檓 working with on such a wonderful play,鈥� Hagan added. 鈥淚 use the analogy of if you need a dress, you can go to Sears and buy a dress. And it might look great on you and you might be one of those people that can wear a sack. But if you go to Holt Renfrew, and you have the money, and you buy a dress there, you put it on and it鈥檚 just 鈥極h my God, I鈥檓 never going to take it off.鈥� That鈥檚 sort of like Albee.鈥�
Western Gold Theatre exists not only to see senior theatre professionals further their careers, but also to mentor the less seasoned.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been around the block,鈥� Hagan said. 鈥淭he talent in this town in the younger community is just remarkable. But, you know, these 30-year-old people, yes they鈥檙e talented, they鈥檙e wonderful, they鈥檙e making their way, but some of us are double that age and, as Terry says, we have a lot of experience and then they give up their energy, so it works both ways.鈥�
Beatrice Zeilinger, who often works with the Arts Club Theatre Company, plays the middle-aged woman. Meaghan Chenosky, who won a Jessie Award earlier this year for her supporting role in ITSAZOO Productions鈥� Killer Joe, plays the lawyer and Matt Reznek plays the young man who visits the ailing woman.
According to Kelly, audiences should see Three Tall Women firstly because they鈥檒l be hugely entertained.
鈥淎nd second of all, they鈥檒l come out fuller and richer and more understanding and aware of life and death than they are before they went in,鈥� he said.
Three Tall Women starts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. at 581 Cardero St. For more information, see .
