Left to Right above: Karen Rudy, Celeste Coburn, Lettie Dyer, Austin Strobel,
Roxanne Strobel and Meret Slover
THE COVER OF LIFE by R.T. Robinson opens on the Wimberley Players stage April 29 and runs through May 22. Tood, Weetsie, and Sybil are all brides in rural Louisiana in 1943. Each is married to a Cliffert brother. The men are off to war, and a local news story about these young wives keeping the home fires burning intrigues Life Magazine editor Henry Luce. He decides that they belong on the cover and assigns reporter Kate Miller to the story. She has been covering the war in Europe. Though she views doing a "women's piece" as a career set-back, she accepts the assignment because it will be her first cover story. Kate spends a week with the Cliffert women. Her haughty urban attitude gives way to sympathy as she begins to understand them while coming face-to-face with her own powerlessness in a man's world. Filled with charm and fun, THE COVER OF LIFE is a deeply affecting story about the struggle for self-worth.
Playing Tood is newcomer to the Players stage Lettie Dyer. Austin Strobel, also new to the Players, is playing Sybil. In the role of Weetsie is Meret Slover, recently seen in the WP production of DRACULA: THE RADIO PLAY. Karen Rudy who has been in many WP productions, most recently in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE RADIO PLAY, is playing the brides’ mother-in-law Aunt Ola. Reporter Kate Miller is played by Roxanne Strobel, returning to the WP stage immediately after playing Yvette in CLUE: ON STAGE. In the role of the local reporter Addie May is Celeste Coburn, a WP regular last seen in the production DEATH BY DESIGN.
THE COVER OF LIFE premiered off-Broadway at The American Place Theatre in 1994. The play is based on the life of the real Tood, Ollie Marzelle Fife, who was the playwrights’ mother. In a 1993 interview for the Hartford Courant, Robinson said, “The secret of great Southern writers is being born into a family of interesting, passionate women.” Robinson, who grew up in Bastrop, Louisiana, not far from the town the play is set in, went on to say, “in my own mind I just went and sort of sat in the living room with these women back in 1943 and listened to them talk.”
Director Tracy Arnold says, "This is a play about taking responsibility in an ever-changing life. This is a play about women who march in step to the established parade. But as the play progresses, we watch as they step out offormation and march to their own beat."
Rounding out the creative team is Carroll Dolezal as Scenic Designer, Lighting Design by William Peeler, Costume Design by Kathy Maldonado, and Hair and Makeup by Bridget Cook. THE COVER OF LIFE is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
April 29 – May 22, 2022
Four Weekends; Twelve Performances, both Live and Streaming
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2:30 PM
Season Subscription for Remaining 2022 Productions with Reserved Seating $88
Individual Reserved Seating $22; Student Tickets $18 with ID (Prices include all fees)
Live Online Streaming Prices Begin at $22.00 with Broadway on Demand
Live and Streaming Tickets are Available at WimberleyPlayers.org or by phone 512-847-0575
The Wimberley Players is located at 450 Old Kyle Road, Wimberley, Texas 78676 (five blocks east of the Wimberley Square)
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