NEW CASTLE PLAYHOUSE 'Octette' will offer dramatic insight

It's a glimpse of what things were like for women during the Depression.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- This seems to be a season in which local theater groups are celebrating the bonding of families -- and women in particular.
Trumbull New Theatre's "Over the River and Through the Woods," the Oakland's "Sisters Rosensweig" and Youngstown State University's "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" are a few examples.
New Castle Playhouse is getting into the act. NCP's next production, "The Octette Bridge Club," is a play about eight sisters who get together every other Friday to play bridge, but it is also about their inner struggles, both personal and as a family.
Written by P.J. Barry, it opened on Broadway in 1985. It is directed by Paul Angelucci, who has been involved with NCP for about seven or eight years.
Act One is set in 1934 during the Depression, and Act Two occurs 10 years later.
The play begins on Halloween, on the third anniversary of the bridge club. A photographer is there from the local newspaper to take photos for a news story.
Setting up
"He asks them questions, which actually sets up the characters for the rest of the play," said Angelucci. "The sisters are all Irish Catholics, and even during the Depression, all appear to be well off."
The oldest sister is Martha, a widow who is a school principal. Mary, the next oldest, is unmarried, and lives with sister Alice and her husband. She is a bookkeeper. Connie, the comic character of the family, is a housewife married to an attorney. Nora is the quiet one, also a housewife, and married to a night watchman.
Alice, whose husband owns a variety store, is the gossip of the family.
It is Ann's house where they always meet. She is a teacher and her husband is the sheriff. She is low key, likes to keep everyone happy, and is a little on the prudish side. Lil is flighty and comical and likes to snack. She has two kids and is married to an electrical engineer. Betsy, the youngest, has depression problems and a husband who is cheating on her. And it is her eventual confrontation with her life and her oldest sister that provides much of the drama in the play.
Most dramatic character
Erica Stickel, who is also a director at NCP, plays Betsy and provides some deeper insight into her character and how she interacts with the others. "Betsy is very innocent and feels like an outcast, trying to be what her sisters want, but she is always a step behind," said Stickel. "She has a good heart, but tries too hard, and is dealing with her own inner turmoil. She is the most dramatic character of all -- really breaks out of the housewife mold."
Stickel said the play is an inside look at the interaction of eight sisters, depicting what women in their generation went through. "During this time period, women didn't talk about personal problems," she said. "I really love the way everything on the outside seems glazed over. Ann wants to make everyone happy, but there is a lot going on underneath, and reveals much about the other characters."
Stickel says that though the play is very funny, especially in the first act, the second act is more dramatic. "Betsy is a free spirit, and we see that in Act Two," she said. "She refuses to be a victim any more, a happy housewife who will shut her eyes to everything around her. That would have been a forward step for a woman in this era. And the conflict between her and Martha also comes to a head in Act Two. This play is very powerful and will move everyone who sees it."