Laundry & Bourbon and Lone Star open at Hatcher Theatre

[Comment Below]

By Madeline Brown

LSU Theatre presents two companion comedies written by James McLure, Laundry & Bourbon and Lone Star, opening March 31 at 7:30 p.m. It will run Monday-Thursday at 7:30 p.m. until April 6, and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Laundry & Bourbon is about Hattie, Amy Lee and Elizabeth in a small Texas town in 1974, and it takes place on the main character Elizabeth’s porch.

“We do laundry, and [Hattie] drinks bourbon,” said theatre performance junior Aline Stokes. “We reminisce about the old days.”

The main character Elizabeth (Stokes) is having trouble with her husband Roy.

“It’s about her struggle with dealing with him,” theatre studies junior Kathleen McMurray said. Laundry & Bourbon is McMurray’s directorial debut.

She said Elizabeth’s husband was in Vietnam for two years, and he’s adjusting to life back in America. The audience will not see him in her play, but in Lone Star, directed by Dr. Leigh Clemons.

“It focuses on the males, and it focuses on Roy’s attempt to find himself after Vietnam,” McMurray said. John Patrick Bray plays Roy.

The world has changed since Roy comes home from Vietnam, and in trying to find himself, he leaves Elizabeth home for days at a time.

“It affected him greatly,” Stokes said. “Elizabeth is very strong. She can take care of herself. She can handle any man except Roy.”

“I think a lot of people have been in that tragic relationship,” Stokes said. “You just want to stay in it no matter how bad it gets.”

“It’s got its moments of tragedy, but it’s a comedy,” Stokes said. “Two people in the play get really drunk.”

The director and the lead of Laundry & Bourbon did not want to give away too much of the play, but they said there are plenty of humorous surprises.

“Some big secrets are revealed about family dynamics and things that have happened in the past,” McMurray said. “It’s a lot of adult humor”

Tickets for Laundry & Bourbon can be purchased at the door in Hatcher Hall for $6.

E-mail the author at Madeline@tigerweekly.com

Originally Published: Issue 601 - March 26, 2008

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