Chronicling the stories of women and their clothing, Cardinal Stage Company’s “Love, Loss and What I Wore” will explore the intertwining ideas of identity and style from March 31 to April 10 at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium.
The relationship between what a woman wears and how it shapes her memory is the thread between the play’s characters, but it is also a concept that the cast and crew share, marketing coordinator Rachel Glago said.
“These stories give us the chance to relive our own clothing memories and to identify with this universal struggle of, ‘What am I going to wear today?’” Glago said. “You might be surprised how meaningful the answer to that question can be.”
For Sylvia McNair, one of the show’s actresses and a senior lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music, this question takes her back to February 1985 and a white gown with gold, rhinestone beading.
That night was her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and after the show, she put on the dress and shared her first kiss with the man she soon married.
For actress Sandy Sabbaugh, the answer is a pink, mohair sweater after her high school graduation.
She spotted it at a department store and a few weeks later she received one just like it — only this sweater was handmade by her mother.
The clothes and memories are different for each, but all of the women have an answer.
“A power suit can inspire you to ask for that promotion or raise you’ve been wanting, while your ‘first date outfit’ might remind you of all the past relationships that got you ready for this date,” Anne Kostyo, company director of development, said. “In short, clothing can be reflective and transformative if we let it.”
This appeal goes one step further, as Cardinal will connect style and identity not only for the audience, but also for the community.
Sixteen of the actresses are based in Bloomington and are donating their paychecks to the local organization My Sister’s Closet, according to Cardinal Stage Company’s website. My Sister’s Closet offers used clothing to low-income women seeking employment, according to its website.
“The show provides us an additional opportunity to not only involve a bunch of fantastic women in the community, but also to support a fellow nonprofit organization that has such a powerful mission,” Glago said.
Cardinal Stage Company plans to donate $2,500 in names of the 16 women and will give the audience an opportunity to do the same.
In hopes of matching the production’s donation, representatives from My Sister’s Closet will attend each show to collect monetary donations as well as gently used jewelry and purses, according to Cardinal’s website.
While the show extends to a universal cause, “Love, Loss and What I Wore” still centers on the personal identity of women and their style.
“This is not about fashion,” co-writer Nora Ephron said at the play’s 2009 opening, according to the website. “It is about what clothes really are to us, those moments when we are constantly trying to find our identity through them and either failing or succeeding.”
