“Morning’s at Seven”
was performed at Clubhouse 3
on Friday, March 30, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 31, at 2 and 7 p.m.;
and Sunday, April 1, at 2 p.m.
Reserved seat tickets, $12 balcony and $15 orchestra,
are on sale at the Clubhouse 3 box office.
Old Pros’ play is about one family’s betrayals, celebrations in one weekend
At a recent rehearsal of Paul Osborn’s “Morning’s at Seven” — without benefit of costumes, without makeup, without scenery — nine skilled actors were able to make this New Yorker believe she had been whisked to the world of a small Midwestern town circa 1939, to the adjoining backyards of four sisters and their families while revelations, betrayals, laughter, deceptions, celebrations, secrets, sarcasm, spells, scandals, love, and dysfunctional family events occurred during only one brief weekend of their lives.
The "Morning’s at Seven" family: seated from left to right: Myrtle (Mary Lee Lindquist), Homer (Bill Humphry), Ida (Arlene Andrews), Carl (Ben Holtman). Standing from left: Arry (Kate Jacobs), Thor (Ed Hayes), Cora (Eveline Hoffman, Esty (Cecile Unatin) and David (Joel Breding).
Four sisters and their families have lived in close proximity for most of their lives. Although they are of a different time and place than ours, they represent a microcosm of family life.
Esty, the smartest, (Cecile Unatin) is the strong one, the sister who always straightens out the others’ problems, except for her own with husband David who wants to keep her from seeing her sisters. Cecile has to figure how out how her character can have both husband and sisters in “my Esty way.”
David, Esty’s husband, (Joel Breding) is a retired college professor who loves power, control and arrogantly impressing his wife’s family with his education. Joel thinks David is really a good guy and has felt the same kind of power when he won an oratorical contest, with the audience listening only to him.
Cora, the mildest, (Eveline Hoffman) is easy going but strong inside and shows her nurturing nature with sister Arry, who lives with her and husband Thor. She accepts Thor’s flirtations and loves him as he is, regardless. Due to emotions she senses between Arry and Thor, Cora dreams of getting Arry out of the house so she can live alone with her husband.Eveline brought her own life’s struggles into Cora, and like Cora she loves people and is happy to please them.
Thor, Cora’s husband, (Ed Hayes) is easy going, good-hearted, and loves being spoiled by his wife and sister-in-law Arry, although he harbors a little guilt over Arry’s presence in their house. He’s a man’s man and clearly attracted to women. Ed shares Thor’s easy going manner and likes the women in his life.
Arry, the wildest, (Kate Jacobs) is the youngest sister and the only one not married ; she harbors a crush on her brotherin-law Thor. Although her horizon is limited to the security of family, she loves excitement so she creates chaos at home. She’s attractive, but behaves unattractively. Kate understands Arry’s vulnerability and works to make her character sympathetic to the audience.
Ida, the slowest, (Arlene Andrews) loves and worries about her family — wishing her husband Carl would not have any spells and her son Homer would leave her house and get married. She likes to please others and doesn’t think of herself. Like Ida, Arlene loves people and enjoys giving them flowers and food.
Carl, Ida’s husband, (Ben Holtman) regrets not realizing his dreams. His twisted thoughts lead him to think he should have made more of his life and he has hopes of correcting that. Ben has some regrets as well and so feels that Carl is the best part for him. However, he says it’s difficult portraying Carl when he’s trying to hide his spells and cover it up with joviality.
Homer, Ida and Carl’s son, (Bill Humphry ) still lives at home at age 40, even though he’s been going with his fiancée Myrtle for 12 years. He’s uncomfortable bringing Myrtle to meet his family as he is shy around relatives and doesn’t like questions. Homer doesn’t have much imagination, unlike Bill, whose imagination has created the perfect Homer.
Myrtle, Homer’s fiancée, (Mary Lee Lindquist) is a sweet, sincere 39-year-old office secretary who wants to get married and thinks 12 years of ‘courtship’ with Homer is enough. She loves Homer because he is good to his mother and makes her feel special. Like Myrtle, Mary Lee likes to keep people happy and has always been the peacemaker in her family. She was raised on a farm in the Midwest so she found it easy to just “fall back” into the Midwest speech pattern.
Morning’s at Seven: performs at Clubhouse 3 on Friday, March 30 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 31 at 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m. Reserved seat tickets at $12 balcony and $15 orchestra are on sale at the Clubhouse 3 box office.
Meet the four sisters of ‘Morning’s at Seven’
The four Gibbs sisters of ‘Morning’s at Seven’ have an emotional discussion. From left: Arry (Kate Jacobs), Cora (Eveline Hoffman), Esty (Cecile Unatin), Ida (Arlene Andrews).
Photo courtesy of Lou Behrman.
In 1939 – a time when families stayed together through generations, houses could be rented for $45 a month and a new bathroom costing $300 was exorbitant – four sisters live near each other with their families in the small Midwestern hometown of their birth.
“Morning’s at Seven” takes place on one memorable weekend when lifetime secrets, hidden animosities and joyful discoveries are triggered by an event that changes their lives forever. Written by Tony Award winner Paul Osborn, “Morning’s at Seven” is presented by The Old Pros on Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1.
If the words ‘small Midwestern town’ bring up dull images, if you think the characters will be plain, if you think nothing much ever happens in a small town, you’ve got another think to think. For, as Director Maggie Brown says about these sisters, “still waters run deep.” Indeed, what looks like a Norman Rockwell picture of life may also turn out to contain a few brush strokes of “true confessions.” And even though there were differences in the era’s style of living, family dynamics and the fears and realizations of aging remain timeless. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein’s quote about a rose, “people are people are people.”
“Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.” – Elizabeth II.
At the heart of the play is the relationship between the four sisters, about whom their father used to recite a poem: “Esty’s smartest, Arry’s wildest, Ida’s slowest, Cora’s mildest.” His evaluation didn’t fall short of the mark.
“Sisters is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship.” – Margaret Mead
Esty is the eldest and the strong one to whom the others come when there’s a problem. Her love of family is not shared by her arrogant husband David who has forbidden her to visit with the family he deems beneath him. Cora internalizes her troubles while her jovial husband Thor takes most things in stride. With them lives the youngest sister Arry, who seems to show an unusual attraction to Thor. Ida is a good wife to Carl and mother to 40-year-old Homer, who still resides at home despite a long term relationship with fiancé Myrtle. It is Homer’s bringing Myrtle to meet the family that lets loose the ‘underneath’ characteristics of the sisters.
“If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child”. – Linda Sunshine
In today’s world, a group of siblings such as the Gibbs sisters would be more likely to part ways with one another in search of education or employment. The same family rivalries and disagreements still exist but are nowadays more likely to be shared via e-mail and cellular telephones. It may have been a different time and place, but there were layers of desire and betrayal in that bygone era’s small town every bit as compelling as anything that happened last week among the “real housewives” of today’s television.
