“Republicans and Democrats in the same room — and all behaving like ladies!”
That’s how Jaynie Roberts, the founder and artistic director of Magenta Theater, described the Saturday staged reading of “Ladies First,” a political fantasy about the second-most-famous inhabitants of the White House.
Here’s the White House dream team that never happened but perhaps should have: Jackie Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson and Pat Nixon. All are on hand in this time-warp of a comedy, set during the Kennedy era of Camelot but starring first ladies of five different decades, the 1930s through the 1970s.
It’s January 1962, and Mrs. Kennedy has accomplished her yearlong project to transform the cramped, plain White House into a stylish mansion that’s worthy of its glamorous new first family — not to mention the whole modern nation.
But everyone’s a critic, of course, and the fellow first ladies whom Mrs. Kennedy has invited to come admire the job are full of, uh, helpful and well-intended suggestions that go far beyond decor — like jumping into the fray of hot-button national debates.
If You Go
• What: “Ladies First,” by Robert Gerlach and James McDonald, directed by Jaynie Roberts.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11.
• Where: Magenta Theater, 1108 Main St., Vancouver.
• Cost: $15 at the door.
• Information: 360-635-4358 or www.magentatheater.com
When Mrs. Roosevelt commands Mrs. Kennedy to head a crusade for women’s rights, a political firestorm ensues inside the White House. In the end, each of our heroines learns something about herself, her relationship with her husband, and how to carry out the highest-profile unpaid job in the United States.
“It has an all-female cast. I’m always looking for all-female casts,” Roberts said.
‘An impossible meeting’
Roberts, who grew up in England, said she wasn’t even sure who some of these first ladies were when the play came to her attention — but then she started listening to American history podcasts, and learned a lot.
“Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing person,” Roberts said. In the play, Roosevelt “virtually faces down Jackie Kennedy and says, ‘You can’t just be a mannequin sitting in the White House; you have to get involved.’ ”
No such gathering of first ladies ever actually occurred, of course. “It’s an impossible meeting, but it puts more character into these women than they may have been able to express” while they were in the public eye, Roberts said. “Each one has such a distinct personality. It makes you realize these were real women.”
Unlike most minimal “Black Chair” staged readings — which have no stage set, no costumes and little rehearsal — this one features carefully tailored costumes and wigs, and the actors had weeks to develop their roles. Character is key in this show, and Roberts wanted those characters as strong as possible.
“Ladies First” is one performance only. All profits will benefit the Magenta Theater lighting campaign, a yearlong effort to raise funds in order to upgrade Magenta’s aged and expensive lighting system to a versatile, affordable new one.
