Entertainment

June 26, 2009

‘Conversations’ brings a dead relationship to life

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
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Fran was the brainy sister. Her family considered her somewhat lacking in looks, and her mother used to say, “Fran, don’t worry. I’ll say a novena and, with the help of God, we’ll find someone for you.”

Of course, anyone willing to marry Fran would probably be some poor schmuck, not one of the desirable “doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs” who would be lining up to court Viv, the pretty sister.

That’s just one of the painful memories Fran Jackson brings to the surface in the two-woman play “Conversations With My Dead Sister,” which debuts tonight at Arts YOUniverse in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Her sister, Viv, isn’t dead as in six feet under, mind you, but dead in the sense of disowned, complete with Fran’s quick intake of breath and a pit-oo-ee of spit.

The play was written by Mark Zdancewicz of Sugar Notch, who admits it started out as a script loosely based on the lives of two real aunts of his, Aunt Dee and Aunt Vi.

“Yes, I really changed her name a lot,” he said of the latter relative.

Then came the rewrites.

“I had to change some things for dramatic effect,” he said. “Aunt Dee isn’t Aunt Dee anymore.”

So maybe one ancestor really was a rum runner. Maybe someone really did scavenge a dress from a dump during the Depression. And maybe someone’s husband really did keep scuba gear around the house.

But the real Aunt Dee, who is still alive — Aunt Vi died recently — doesn’t recognize herself in the story, the playwright said.

In any event, Zdancewicz said he had a great time putting together a set full of such vintage 1970s material as eight-track tapes, plastic ferns, a sofa with mismatched cushions and a typewriter on which Viv can impulsively type her 25-years-late thank-you note for the wedding gift Fran gave her.

“I tried to make it look tacky, but how can I when the place looks like an English country manor?” he said, referring to the massive wood paneling that surrounds the stage in what was once the altar at the First United Methodist Church.

Fans of retro clothing will get a kick out of the costumes the cast wears — Kathleen Godwin in a splashy, wild print and Rebecca Schmitt in a frumpy patchwork housecoat.

“It’s double-knit polyester,” Schmitt said, hinting that’s not the coolest fabric to wear when you’re tackling your sister or threatening to choke her with a vacuum cord or whack her upside the head with a hockey stick.

The show has a lot of comedy — physical and otherwise — but it has serious moments, too, Godwin said.

“Audiences won’t know whether to laugh or cry,” she said.

If you go

What: “Conversations With My Dead Sister”

Where: Arts YOUniverse, 47 N. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre

When: 8 tonight, Saturday and Sunday nights

Admission: $5

Caveat: Adult language and smoking are part of the show.

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