Productions

Laundry and Bourbon

THANK YOU for attending!


The reviews are in! Laundry and Bourbon is "... as potent as a Triple Shot"!
http://cvnc.org/reviews/2009/092009/Laundry.html

A comedy rich with humor and raw reality. Featuring Rachel Green, Betsy T. Henderson and Canady Vance Thomas.

Welcome to a back porch: Anywhere, USA.

It’s a hot summer afternoon in 1974. Elizabeth, Hattie and busy body Amy Lee are folding laundry, drinking bourbon and coke, gossiping, and exchanging insults while awaiting the return of Elizabeth’s wayward husband, Roy, who hasn't been the same since his return from Vietnam.

The dynamic combination of area theatre veterans and best friends Betsy T. Henderson, Rachel Green and Canady Vance Thomas gives a comfortable and playful feel to this 1970's back porch cat fight. The constant breeze on this sweltering summer night is not enough to cool down the heat amongst these girls as they compare husbands, bridge club rivalry, infidelity, the introduction of mahjong, how to raise children and how to pick the right door on Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal", which is blaring from the television in the background. The stoic optimism and patience Elizabeth shows for her missing Vietnam Veteran husband Roy melts the heart of even these caustic women.

There's plenty to laugh about and much to contemplate in this tender and lively comedy.

Photography by Paul Hurschmann

The issue of war and the resistance to change was addressed during two nights of pre-show discussions with area experts on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as a means of opening a dialogue concerning the obstacles and issues faced by our returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. 

Saturday, September 26, pre show discussion with Dr. Greg Inman and Mr. Ray Koval, Raleigh Veterans Association.

“Laundry and Bourbon” is directed by The Justice Theater Project’s Artistic Director, Deb Royals.  Sound Design by Julie Jones, lighting by Daniel Sepke, stage management by Andy Hayworth, and set design and construction by Deb Royals and Brett Stegall.

The Justice Theater Project (JTP) is an advocacy and activist theater company whose mission is to use the dramatic arts to bring to the fore of public attention the needs of the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.  Each year JTP presents a diverse combination of original works, main stage productions, and community outreach events focusing on issues of social justice.
“Laundry and Bourbon” was performed at 8:00 p.m. on September 18, 19, 25, 26 and September 20, 27 at 2:00 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for groups of 10 or more. 

Ticket Information

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for groups of 10 or more.  Sunday, September 13 at 2 p.m. is $5.00 admission day.

http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/venueSearch.jsp?venue_id=5871&cobrand=thejusticetheaterproject

Related Events

Press

Laundry and Bourbon review by Robert W. McDowell, Classical Voice of North Carolina: Wednesday, September 16

Justice Theater Project’s Production of Laundry and Bourbon Is as Potent as a Triple Shot

by Robert W. McDowell

September 12, 2009, Raleigh, NC: The Justice Theater Project’s current production of James McLure’s Laundry and Bourbon is as potent as a 180-proof triple shot of bourbon whiskey, straight. Ostensibly a knee-slapping Southern-fried comedy about three gossipy housewives in tiny Maynard, Texas, this three-character play takes a serious turn when their freewheeling conversation turns from catty comments about each other, their feckless husbands, and their irritating kids to sober speculation on what’s wrong with Elizabeth Caulder’s hard-drinking, skirt-chasing husband, Roy, who hasn’t been home in two days.

Roy Caulder is the much-discussed but never-seen “Elephant in the Room” — in this case, the cluttered back porch — of the rundown clapboard house that he shares with Elizabeth when he’s not out, tooling around Maynard in his cherished pink 1959 Thunderbird convertible, ogling other women, and looking to drown his Vietnam flashbacks and his current worries in an ocean of Lone Star beer. Roy hasn’t been right since he came back from Vietnam two years ago, and he is about to step on Elizabeth’s last nerve, while he is drinking himself into oblivion. Yet she loves him anyway, truly, madly, deeply; and there are growing signs that Roy is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome — but the problem of PTSD is not yet well known on the scorching summer afternoon in 1974 when the play takes place.
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