String of Pearls

Michele Lowe's String of Pearls is a serious comedy in which five actresses playing 27 different characters portray the effect of having one particular piece of jewelry intersect with their lives.

String of Pearls (through Nov. 15 at the Civic's downstairs Studio Theater) depicts women who are young and old, rich and poor, comfortable and desperate: hotel maids and heiresses, career women and kids, even a lesbian gravedigger.

As director Susan Hardie notes, the play is full of magic and coincidence.

While it deals with serious topics (cancer, unrequited love, money problems), it's also, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

Here's a video preview with Inlander writer Michael Bowen interviewing Susan Hardie and with snippets of scenes being rehearsed by Jean Hardie, Tami Rotchford and Kate Vita.