[NEohioPAL] Review of "Dixie Swim Club" at Aurora Community Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Aurora's 'The Dixie Swim Club' offers more of the same

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the Times papers 3/10/11

 

 

Some theater is risky and risqué.  It is intended to challenge the audience's sensibilities while assaulting its senses.  "The Dixie Swim Club," written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, and currently on stage at the Aurora Community Theatre, is most certainly not that kind of theater.

 

This kind of theater is safe and familiar fare.  To a very large extent, the appeal of "The Dixie Swim Club"-a truly delightful comedy-resides in its immediate recognizability and the fluffy cloud of comfort such temperate entertainment tends to generate.    

  

The play bares a strong resemblance to "Steel Magnolias" in its depiction of Southern charm, its blending of broad humor, and its thick estrogen-laced sentimentality.

 

The play explores the lives of five girlfriends who met on their college swim team.  They now meet each year at the same beach cottage on North Carolina's Outer Banks to drink, swim and support each other through life's unpredictable twists and turns.

 

As such, "The Dixie Swim Club" resembles "Same Time, Next Year" in that it spans these friends' adult lives and drops in on them periodically, at first depicting the women in their 40s and, finally, in their golden years. 

 

The play also hints of TV's "The Golden Girls."  Like a good sitcom, the laughs come fast and furious.  And, true to ensemble sitcom casting, each character is built to conflict with the others for broad comedic effect, while their bond of uncompromising friendship supplies the occasional moments of drama. 

 

Sheree, played by Jackie Cassara, is the steadfast team captain and unflappable group organizer.  Dinah, played by Chris White, is the aggressive, hard-drinking career woman.  Lexie has never met a mirror or a man she didn't like, and is portrayed by Denise Bernstein.  Kate Tonti, as Vernadette, is an accident waiting to happen, arriving each year as the victim of increasingly improbable tribulations.  Jeri Neal, played by Jenny Barrett, is a lapsed nun making up for lost time. 

 

What is most familiar about this play is that it was just performed at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre last June.  This is the same cast, the same concept and, with Barbara Rhoades at the helm, the same director.

 

Aside from some remnant dust still showing during the opening night performance, this play, this production and these players make for an enjoyable evening's entertainment.  

  

It can be argued that the insertion of this play into the season's existing lineup makes good business sense for the ACT.  "The Dixie Swim Club" is, after all, an established entity.  The CVLT production had a very successful run and received recognition from the Ohio Community Theater Association.  

 

Logistically, this production makes sense as well.  The set used in the ACT's previous production of "Communicating Doors" is put to use once again, and the performers were able to step back into their roles without missing a beat and with little rehearsal. 

 

Still, the revival of a show available just 8 miles away and just 6 months ago lacks a certain degree of artistic merit and creative integrity.  Risky and risqué theater may be out of the question on the community theater scene in some communities, but recycled theater should never be entered into the equation, no matter how good, safe or familiar the product.

 

"The Dixie Swim Club" continues through March 12 at Aurora Community Theatre, 115 E. Pioneer Trail, Aurora.  For tickets, which are $16, contact 330-562-1818 or www. auroracommunitytheatre.com.
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