presents
The Dixie Swim Club
by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten
directed by Mary Ellen Butler
April 6 - 29, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Georgetown Palace Theatre, 810 S. Austin Ave. (click for map)
Tickets for reserved seats are available on-line are $24 General Admission, $22 Seniors (55+), $14 Students (13-22) and Active Military, and $10 Children (12 and younger). The Palace office in the lobby of the theatre is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. (except for some holiday dates). Purchase tickets and select seating on-line at www.thegeorgetownpalace.org or by calling (512) 869-7469 or (512) 869-5081. (Please call ahead regarding special needs seating.) Visa and Master Card are accepted.
The plot thickens each year in August when the Swim Club members – whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team – meet for a long weekend in the same beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to recharge their relationships. The Dixie Swim Club focuses on four of those weekends and spans a period of thirty-three years. It is the story of five unforgettable women – a hilarious and touching comedy about friendships that last forever.
This will be a brief sojourn for the five Southern women who make up The Dixie Swim Club: you can catch them at the Palace for only the four weekends in April. These five – each with her own distinctive personality, quirks, and life experiences – are ready to share their stories, not only with each other, but also with you, the audience. Prepare to be charmed, enlightened, and regaled! Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten – who teamed up to write The Dixie Swim Club – knew what they were doing! And our director, Mary Ellen Butler, brings out the best (and worst, when required) in the actors who portray the members of this intriguing club.
Here are the five Southern women who make up The Dixie Swim Club: Sheree Hollinger, played by Jan Phillips, who was last seen at the Palace some years ago as Truvy in Steel Magnolias. Sheree is the practical, supportive, and energetic one of the group! Dinah Grayson, the wise-cracking cynic, is portrayed by Virginia Keeley (in Harvey, The Odd Couple, and other Palace productions). Lexie Richards, played by Trina Sherman, is a true Southern belle! (Trina was in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Evita, among others at the Palace, and writes for our Palace newsletter.) Jeri Neal McFeeley, who always sees the positive side of things, is brought to life by Kat Sparks (a newcomer to the Palace but well-heeled with credits such as her recurring principal role as Patty in The Young & the Restless). And last, but not least, is Vernadette Simms, the hard-luck case of the group. Maureen Slabaugh plays the role of Vernadette, was recently seen in A Christmas Carol at the Palace, and is now teaching a Dance Theatre class for the Palace’s education program. Read the full bios of these five wonderful actors in our Playbill when you come to see The Dixie Swim Club.
Even an impish twist of punctuation would have done it. Call it Well? so as to capture the mother-daughter dialogue at the heart of the play, in which monologist Lisa Kron pushes beyond the strictures of stand-up comedy and tale-telling, confiding to the audience that she's going to bring her very own mother onstage to illustrate her stories. Jennifer Underwood is in fact right there on stage as you enter the theatre, snoozing in her La-Z-Boy armchair in a nest of newspapers, files, kitsch and collections, and she doesn't wake up until Sarah Seaton as narrator/monologist has confided this approach to you.
