reviews - LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE - Theatre Artists Studio

Left to right: Barbara Acker, Ashley Faulkner, Carol Gibson, Martha Welty, Dolores Goldsmith
photo by Mark Gluckman

highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through .


Love, Loss and What I Wore is a one-act series of vignettes that links important times in women's lives with what they were wearing at those key moments...director Patti Davis Suarez opens up and expands the production at Theatre Artists Studio by setting it in the dress shop of the main narrator and has eleven actresses portraying the women in the show....the expert cast members deliver poignant portrayals of the dozens of women who make many of the stories connect with the audience. There is, unfortunately, an unevenness in the tone of the script that skirts just about every truly emotional moment by adding humor to it, thus avoiding any deep connection....The 100-minute show is framed by the character of Gingy, whose story anchors the show and is interspersed throughout. ...The show touches upon many key garment decisions in life... But beneath these tales is what they are really about—the sometimes strained dynamics of mothers/daughters and sisters/husbands, the men who come into and out of the women's lives, life's embarrassing situations, and more serious issues such as rape and cancer. While a lot of topics and territory are covered, there isn't much "love" or "loss" in the vignettes, so the title is a bit misleading....The 11 members of the cast are expert in morphing from one character to another and having a clear understanding of the material and the various characters they inhibit. While there isn't a weak link in the group, Marcia Weinberg is exceptional as Gingy...Also, Mary Coleman does excellent work playing a woman who has breast cancer and who rises above the stigma and pain of it by refusing to become a victim to the disease. Suarez's direction is bright and breezy yet grounded and full of importance for the more serious stories, and her decision to expand on the original concept of the show was a wise one.....Love, Loss and What I Wore provides an interesting view into the way everyone, and not just women, remembers specific articles of clothing they were wearing at key moments in their lives. While I wish the piece were a bit more serious, Theatre Artists Studio's production features an exceptional cast and clear direction and the end result is a charming, often very funny, overview of many key moments in a woman's life. -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)


"...“Love, Loss, and What I Wore”... basically a string of monologues by women telling stories from their lives framed by the most memorable items from their wardrobes... Highlights include an uproarious riff on the challenges of keeping one’s purse tidy, but disappointingly, especially for any hapless husbands in the audience, the play delivers a lot more of “what I wore” than of love and loss. ...A good-natured celebration of women’s fraught relationship with clothes." - Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic (click here to read the complete review)

"Theatre Artists Studio kicks off its 2016/17 season in high fashion style with Nora and Delia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE...As Gingy (Beckerman's nickname), Marcia Weinberg shares her life story by the clothes she wore. ....Gingy's recollections are reflected by 10 women who flit in and out of her resale shop like moths attracted to a bright light. Weinberg is worth the price of admission, but outstanding scenes featuring Martha Welty (purses), Alaina Beauloye (rape) and Mary Coleman (cancer) add an emotional discourse that could only have come from Beckerman, the Ephrons and TAS director Patti Suarez.....Some men may appreciate this dramedy, but probably not as much as women who have lived through lifelong clothes crises. If you've ever worn a poodle skirt, micro mini or DVF wrap dress, this show is definitely for you, your daughter, mother and grandmother. "  -Lee Cooley, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)