ABOUT THE SHOW

This material may not be suitable for all audiences.
Includes some profanity, adult situations, and sexual innuendos.

Director’s Notes

Before COVID became a central part of all of our lives, I was given the script for Love, Loss and What I Wore. After reading it, I knew it was a project I would love to direct someday.  

During the pandemic, these four amazing and talented women spent time rehearsing — socially distancing with masks, often while sitting outside in the cold, reading this script together — all as a way to stay connected and focus on something fun, artistic, and meaningful. As the hope of returning to normal became a reality, the desire to bring this presentation to others was enthusiastically embraced by all of us.

Our group first presented this production as an outdoor live performance fundraiser for MMAS and their new space in June of 2021. We are delighted to return to and support the theater once again with its new name, Mass Arts Center. This project continues to influence us as performers, women, and as friends. It has been a true honor working and collaborating with Judi, Cindy, Michelle, and Alice.  They are my “Dream Team” of actresses.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore was written by Nora and Delia Ephron and based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. It was initially presented on August 2, 2008 at the Bridgehampton Community House as a benefit for the renovation of the John Drew Theatre/Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York.

The production is usually staged exactly as it is today: with the women seated, dressed in black, at the lip of the stage, consulting their scripts on music stands, as needed. In fact, the play won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Gingy describes her drawings of specific “outfits” that affected her life and shares insights with the other ladies on diverse subjects. The subject matter of the monologues encompasses women’s relationships and wardrobes and, at times, the interaction of those two elements, transforming the female wardrobe into a time capsule of a woman’s life.

Since we last performed Love, Loss, and What I Wore in May of 2022 in Worcester, Mass., our group has experienced many life-changing events which has given us new perspective and insight to these monologues. I believe we all have that one “outfit” we have worn that defined a particular moment in our lives and reflected something deeper about ourselves. It is my hope that each of you will find a piece of yourself in these reflections of love, loss and what you wore.

ABOUT DINNER

Trattoria Della Nonna Restaurant
160 North Main St., Mansfield

Tickets are $75 per person

Includes (two course meal – a starter salad and a choice of meals) 

First course salad: Mixed Greens Shallot/oregano vinaigrette / pancetta/ tomato

Main Course a choice of:

Chicken Milanese: Breaded cutlets, fresh baby spinach, lemon butter capers, cappellini Aglio olio (Garlic & Olive Oil)

or

Rigatoni Calabrian Style Bolognese: Slow cooked coarse ground veal & pork, red sauce, reggiano

THERE ARE NO exceptions, changes, or substitutes.

Ticket price includes your meal, and the taxes and tip on the meal.

All patrons will be responsible for their drinks and tax and tip on their beverage tab.

Director’s Bio: Linda Strano has been involved with acting, singing, designing costumes, and directing with various theater groups and companies for many years. Nevertheless, the most important and meaningful line on her resume is being a mom to her children, Lisa and Rob, who share her love of theater. Watching them both perform, graduate college, seeing them get married, and then becoming “Grammie” to her three grandchildren, Kaelyn, Lucas, and Abby, has been Linda’s biggest and most rewarding production to date. Now semi-retired, Linda looks forward to all future projects and adventures, on and off the stage.

Judi Kotta (Gingy & misc. characters) first joined MMAS (Now called the Mass Arts Center) in 2001. She is excited to be working with Linda Strano and sharing the stage again with Cindy, Alice, and Michelle. This play resonates with Judi as she has had to wear a “uniform” much of her life — in parochial school and later working for the USPS. While studying Voice in college (UMass-Lowell), Judi often wore “costumes” as an actor and singer. She has appeared on- and off-backstage for over 35 years. MMAS directing credits include 1776, Boys Next Door (with MMAS’ Glenn Fournier), and Wait Until Dark (with castmate, Cindy McCarron). Judi has also performed on the MMAS stage in The Diary of Anne Frank, Blithe Spirit, Stepping Out, Nuncrackers, Scrooge, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In 1997, Judi won a Best Actress EMACT Award as Olive Madison for The Odd Couple: The Female Version with Linda Strano directing (Stoughton Little Theatre). Recently, Judi co-taught the Adult Acting Class at the newly named Mass Arts Center Academy with fellow cast member, Alice Springer. Embracing retirement from the “uniform” and the USPS, Judi now practices a different career as a Reiki Practitioner. She also enjoys her volunteer work in the Mansfield Schools and as an election poll worker. Judi is a “Winter.”

Cindy McCarron (misc. characters) joined MMAS in 1994 and served as a Board Member for 15 years. She started on the ground floor, working on fundraisers with Ken Butler and the late Georgette Cote. She then helped produce the Student Scholarship Showcases and Dinner Shows, where she got to perform with her daughter, Chelsey, and also met her husband, Mark, as the piano accompanist. She co-hosted the MMAS cable TV show, Arts in The Spotlight. She also co-directed Wait Until Dark with her castmate, Judi Kotta. Cindy graduated with a BFA from Emerson College and has worked and performed at many community theaters including The Walpole Footlighters, The Norton Singers, and the Paris Cabaret Dinner Theater. Her favorite acting roles include Candy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Electra in Gypsy, Vera in Stepping Out, Ensemble in Hair, and Julie Jordan and Mrs. Mullin in Carousel. Cindy also enjoys singing in her church choir, directed and accompanied by her husband, Mark. Cindy still has her high school letter jacket as it brings back cherished memories of when she was the captain of the track team. She thanks Linda, Judi, Alice, and Michelle for continuing to travel with this show, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, as it always brings much love and laughter into her life. Cindy is an “Autumn.”

Michelle Monti (misc. characters) joined MMAS in 2006 when she worked crew on Wait Until Dark under the direction of castmate Judi Burns-Kotta. In October 2008, Michelle stepped onto MMAS’s stage as Mollie Ralston in The Mousetrap. Other favorite MMAS roles include: Sonia in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple, and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2009, she received a Motif Magazine nomination for Best Lead Actress as young Lynette in Frame 312 (Attleboro Community Theater). Michelle was also named “Funniest Mom in Rhode Island” by Catch a Rising Star in 2007. Currently, Michelle runs her own communications consulting business. She is truly grateful to Linda Strano, Judi Kotta, Cindy McCarron, and Alice Springer for proposing this fun project that got her through the pandemic and still continues to make people laugh. Michelle thinks she is an “Autumn,” but usually buys whatever is on sale.

Alice Springer (misc. characters) joined MMAS in 1996. Since then, she has performed here numerous times, including in her one-woman show, Becoming Dr. Ruth, which she has also performed at other venues. She has appeared in plays and musicals throughout New England. Alice received an EMACT award for her portrayal of Commissioner Doyle in Annie Warbucks (Little Theater of Stoughton.). She has studied acting with Tom Hunter (New England Repertory Company), Fred Sullivan, Jr. (Trinity Repertory Company and Gamm Theatre), and Joe Wilson, Jr. (Trinity Repertory Company). Alice is a retired teacher from the Brockton, Mass. school system. She taught acting classes alongside MMAS Executive Director Ken Butler, and also classes and musicals with actor-director Gary Poholek. She recently co-taught an adult acting class at the newly named Mass Arts Center with fellow cast member, Judi Kotta. Alice lives in Sharon with her musician-author husband, Mel, and their rescue dogs. She thanks Director Linda Strano for the opportunity to talk about something she loves: clothes. Alice is a “Summer.”