In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the stinging social satire, "The Women," SpeakEasy Stage will kick off its 16th season with a production of the Clare Boothe Luce classic from September 22 to October 21 at the Edward Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion.

Scott Edmiston, winner of the 2006 Elliot Norton Award as Best Director of SpeakEasy's production of "Five By Tenn," will direct an all-female cast set to include Nancy E. Carroll, Aimee Doherty, Ellen Colton, Kerry Dowling, Alice Duffy, Anne Gottlieb, Maureen Keillor, Mary Klug and Sonya Raye.

Set in the 1930s, "The Women" chronicles infidelity and infighting among a group of rich Manhattan socialites. Mary Haines thinks she has the perfect life until her gossipy "friends" reveal that her beloved husband Stephen is having an affair with a sultry salesgirl. When news of the affair hits the tabloids, Mary heads to Reno for a divorce, but soon begins to question her decision. What follows is a biting satire on the idleness of wealthy wives, for whom martinis, mudpacks and meddling are favorite ways to pass the time.

"The Women" debut on Broadway in 1936 and set attendance records for a non-musical at the time, running 657 performances and subsequently touring the United States and 18 countries. Many people are familiar with the 1939 film version. The MGM classic featured an all-star cast including Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell.

Due to the play's large cast and extensive production demands, "The Women" has rarely been revived, although Hartford Stage presented a production in 1994, with the Roundabout Theatre following in 2001.

The decision to open SpeakEasy's season with the show came about because of a "rare window of opportunity," according to Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault.

"Both Scott and I are big fans of the play," Daigneault commented, "but we have always found the production and cast requirements to be a bit daunting. However, when we realized that our fellow theatre companies were producing shows that held few roles for women, we jumped at the chance to do the show knowing that most of the city's top actresses would be available."

"The Women" was Clare Boothe Luce's first success as a playwright, a career she began after working as an editorial assistant at Vogue and as managing editor of Vanity Fair. The play was first produced just months after Clare Boothe married Henry Robinson Luce, the publisher and founder of Time and Fortune magazines.

A woman of ambition and diverse interests, Luce abandoned her stage career after writing just two more plays, "Kiss The Boys Goodbye" and "Margin of Error," which were both Broadway successes.

In 1940 she traveled to Europe to begin work as a foreign correspondent for her husband's newest publication, Life magazine. The trip marked the beginning of a new phase of her life, a remarkable period of over forty years during which time Luce served as an ambassador to Italy. In 1981, she was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. She was later honored with The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Edmiston commented, "'The Women' was pioneering as a woman playwright's perspective on America's wealthy, privileged, social class -- a world that Luce both admired and despised. We decided not to approach the material as camp but with an honest and discerning eye for the lives of the characters."

He added, "While class issues, gender roles, and opportunities for women have changed enormously in the past 70 years, I think society's obsession with gossip, betrayal and scandal have never been greater."

For information and tickets, call the box office at 617-933-8600 or visit www.BostonTheatreScene.com.

-- OnStage Boston

09/15/06

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