"Savannah Sipping Society"

This past weekend Lubbock Community Theatre premiered their production of The Savannah Sipping Society, written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten. The show is directed by Sean Allen Jones.

This play was a lot of fun. Kind of like a live action Golden Girls episode (which is very much a compliment; I love that show). I have known Jones for a couple of years, but this was my first show with him as director and he did not disappoint.

The play centers around four women who, for various reasons, find themselves a little unfulfilled in life and decide to get together, drink some, and try and live their lives to the fullest.

I really enjoyed how every once in a while, the characters would sort of step out of the scene they were in and talk directly to the audience. The first one of these is at the very beginning of the show when Randa, played wonderfully by Beth Brown, explains how she recently lost her job as an architect and has decided to take up yoga in order to fill the time and hopefully center herself.

I have been in two plays with Beth, both of us in the musical ensemble of those shows, so I have never really gotten a chance to see her act in the traditional sense. She was a ton of fun, just full of energy and super uptight at the same time. Her timing was great, though there were a couple of times you could tell she stumbled just a bit on her lines. She always recovered well, and it didn’t really distract from the flow of the show.

Randa, sweaty and breathing hard after her yoga class, runs into Dot, another woman who has left the confines of the yoga studio. Dot is played by Pam Brown and is also a lot of fun. I have met Pam a few times but had never had the opportunity to see her in a show. The chemistry between Beth and Pam (not related in real life, I checked) is immediately present.

They are soon joined by Marlafaye, played by Ira White-Kelly. White-Kelly brings so much energy into the scene! According to the playbill, White-Kelly was in an accident recently and hurt both of her legs and so in this show she is using a motorized scooter. It was impressive how well she moved in it and, in my opinion, it actually added to her character and made a number of scenes even funnier.

Marlafaye joins the other ladies and after a pleasant conversation, Randa accidentally invites the other women over for drinks. A few days later on Randa’s verandah (try saying that three times fast) the women get together and share some drinks while discussing their various problems.

Dot’s husband died a few months back; Marlafaye’s husband left her for a much younger woman; and Randa lost her job. After a while they are joined by Jinx, played by Cindy Callaham. Jinx is the opposite of uptight Randa, and the two do not initially hit it off. Eventually, though, the four women become friends and under the guidance of Jinx, who has recently become a life coach, they begin to better their lives.

The four women bring their all to the play. Their interactions are hilarious (and occasionally moving) and overall the play is very entertaining. There were some pacing issues in the second act, mainly because it just isn’t quite as funny as the first one (not to fault anyone here, that is more of a story issue), and there were a couple of secondary plot lines that I feel didn’t quite get the time they deserved, but overall the play was a really great time.

I did want to mention the set, designed by Jon Keys. There is basically the one setting of Randa’s verandah, but it was really well done. It looks like the porch of nice little house in Georgia.

Another aspect I wanted to be sure to mention was the costumes designed by Patti Campbell with help from Diane Bancroft. There are some very standard costumes, but they also got to have a lot of fun dressing the women up for a night on the town and especially for one scene where they have just come from a renaissance faire. I imagine those costume fittings were more enjoyable than normal.

If you are a fan of the women of Steele Magnolias or of the Golden Girls, I think The Savannah Sipping Society will be right up your alley. It is funny, but with a heart and wit that works really well together.

The play will be running for two more weekends, Oct. 11-13 and 18-20 at Lubbock Community Theatre. For more information, visit lubbockcommunitytheatre.org.

Be sure to check our schedule for other arts programs and be sure to watch our local arts program, 24 Frames, Saturday nights at 9 on Texas Tech Public Media and at KTTZ.org.