"The Dixie Swim Club"

My adoptive sister Jenny likes to perform in community theater. Most recently she's appeared as "Dinah Grayson," one of five characters in a play called The Dixie Swim Club, by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten. The production, which ended its two-and-a-half-week run today, was an Awareness Event connected with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Some of the ticket proceeds were also donated to that cause.

The play was staged by the Sands Theater Company at the Athens Theatre, a newly renovated local landmark.

Here's a publicity picture of the cast (that's Jenny/Dinah on the right):

And here's the old theater:

M and J went to see the play last weekend and said that it was very enjoyable.

"What's it about?" I asked M on one of our recent walks.

"About two hours," he replied.

I gave him a "Don't-make-me-use-these-teeth-on-your-leg" look, and he smartened right up. The play, he informd me, is about five ladies who are good friends and former teammates on their college swim team. They get together for a long weekend every August at a beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The story takes place in four acts in the cottage's living room, over a period of 33 years.

"They stay at the beach?" I said, my stomach suddenly feeling a bit queasy. "So it's a horror story?" (As you may have seen elsewhere in this blog, the beach--or more properly the ocean, or any large amount of standing water--sort of terrifies me.)

"Not even close," he said. "It's a comedy--and a very funny one, with just a tinge of tragedy for people who like to keep things realistic." He went on to explain that the script was full of great laugh lines, thanks in part to playwright Wooten, who spent some years as a writer and producer on a popular TV sitcom called The Golden Girls.

Here are several photos from a couple of the performances:

M and I had lots of pictures to choose from, but these will give you the general idea that the ladies really enjoy their reunions. One thing that struck me is that in most of the photos I saw, Jenny seems to be awfully thirsty. I wonder if she ought to try drinking a large bowl of water before she goes onstage.

Aside from that, though . . . well done!