Love, Loss and What I Wore is a collection of stories about prom dresses, shoes, skirts and fitting rooms. Behind these matters of the wardrobe are traumatic, sentimental and comic stories of five women who connect their closet items to memories and moments in their lives that are unforgettable and life changing to them. This play is fun to watch, but also is a thought-provoking piece the Underground theatre is bringing its audience.
These women, ranging from a cancer patient to a gang member, tell their stories about marriages, children, and families by pairing their feelings and opinions with their two-piece outfits and little black dresses. Basically, each item they bring up or choose to talk about has made them remember a certain feeling or memory worth sharing. Or is it that they are shining the light on a piece of fabric to hide or feel less of an emotion? Or is it that fabric is so important that it measures up to the story that goes with it? Or maybe women are so attached to their clothes that it has become a coping mechanism? Love, Loss and What I Wore is a reflection of matters of the wardrobe and the heart.
REVIEWS
“It’s like a big bowl of buttered popcorn for the women who can share deeply in the particulars of experience dissected and discussed.” – The New York Times
“The show isn’t out to reclaim female sexuality from centuries of oppression; it wittily celebrates wardrobe malfunctions such as puberty and your mother’s taste in clothes” – The LA Times
“A bittersweet meditation on the joys and tribulations of women’s lives, reflected through the prism of their clothes” – Variety
The Author: Ilene Beckerman
Ilene Beckerman began her writing career late in her life. She has written articles in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. She wrote Love, Loss and What I Wore (1995) which became a best seller and inspiration for the play that broke Off-Broadway records. Her other works are include What We Do For Love (1997), Mother of the Bride (2000), Makeovers of the Beauty Counter of Happiness (2005) and The Smartest Woman I Know (2011).
The Playwrights: The Ephron sisters
Nora Ephron is famous for writing, directing and producing romantic comedy and received three Acadamy Awards for Original Screenplay for Silkwood (1983), When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). She is also the author of five best-selling books. Her sister Delia Ephron, writer and producer, co-wrote screenplays with her, including You’ve Got Mail (1998), Hanging Up (2000) and Bewitched (2005).
Nora identified with the stories in Love, Loss, and What I Wore and started writing her version of the book in the late 1990s. She then decided to adapt it into a play and brought in her sister Delia into to the project. Together, they emailed 100 women asking them for their wardrobe stories and turned those stories into monologues that became Love, Loss And What I Wore and winner of multiple drama awards in 2010. Love Loss and What I Wore was performed in 2008 in the Hamptons, New York and then went on Off Broadway productions in 2010 where it was very well acclaimed.
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Tickets are now on sale for Love, Loss and What I Wore.
Purchase online, call 218.733.7555, or stop by the Box Office during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm)
Join us before each and every show for private shopping at our Art in the Alley boutique, Happy Hour drink specials, appetizers by Blackwoods Catering, and live entertainment every night.
THEMES FOR EACH NIGHT (come dressed to impress!)
March 26 – Little Black Dress (Musician: Jerree Small)
March 27 – Pretty in Pink (Musician: Emily Haavik)
March 28 – Lady in Red (Musician: Rachael Kilgour)
The Duluth Playhouse Official Blog 