Everyone knows a pack rat for whom that raggedy shirt hanging in the back of the closet is not just a shirt, but a magic garment embedded with memories of time spent in a loved one’s arms, a favorite holiday or a trip abroad.
The power of a garment as a marker of life’s memories and milestones is the subject of Manoa Valley Theatre’s Studio Series production of “Love, Loss, and What I Wore,” with performances Monday through Wednesday.
The play, written by the late Nora Ephron and her sister Delia, was based on the 1995 book by Ilene Beckerman. It’s presented as a series of 28 monologues read by a cast of five women talking about their clothes in relation to key moments in their lives, from the happy to the bittersweet.
Leading the cast is Victoria Gail-White as the Gingy, who reminisces about her life growing up in New York’s Upper East Side, tying key moments to pieces of clothing, from a Brownie uniform to a chic gown she wore when she thought she had met “the one,” who became the one who got away and eventually won a Pulitzer Prize.
In between, the actors share all the clothing rules, all the physical flaws; all the parental admonishments, self doubt and self-loathing that lead people to sometimes strained relationships with clothing.
Lisa Barnes, who appears in the production alongside Gail-White and cast-mates Stacy Ray, Bree Bumatai and Lauren Murata, is no stranger to those feelings, which is why her favorite garment is a wool turtleneck she picked up in 1988. Tailored and black, with tiny shoulder pads, she said, “It went with everything and made me look fantastic even though I can’t wear wool. I was tortured every time I wore it, but I wore it anyway.”
Ray said her favorite garment was a black cowl sweater she wore as a 7-year-old captivated by the idea of being a beatnik.
“I remember hearing about the beatniks, and they sounded so exciting and exotic, sitting around, smoking cigarettes in cafes and talking about serious things. My parents would complain about them and say society was going to hell in a handbasket, but I just wondered, Who are they, what do they do? It was something so forbidden.”
Murata said her favorite garment was a gray Walmart hoodie she wore every day until it fell apart. When that happened, “I went out and got another one just like it the next day.”
Another favorite outfit comprised her mom Anne’s white boots and white Easter hat that were the basis of a “Phantom of the Opera” costume when she was about 5.
“I was always doing productions and plays by myself or with some neighborhood kids. I had the No. 1 mom who always tolerated what I was doing,” Murata said.
With that support, it’s no surprise she found her way to real stages.
Director David C. Farmer also is no slouch when it comes to clothing, and he said he was moved to stage the production after seeing it performed in the Philippines.
“It seemed like a wonderful, accessible piece. Obviously it’s a women’s piece, but theater people are very clothes-oriented,” he said. “I’m sort of a shoe freak. I have about 200 pairs of shoes, and hats, from a fez-looking cap to obligatory caps and visors with flair hair, cowboy hats and top hats.”
And he makes the most of them, wearing them whenever the mood strikes without fear of crowd reactions.
“There is no embarrassment in entertainment. Anything that gets you attention is good.”
BUMATAI’S favorite piece of clothing is also a hat that helps her stand out in a crowd. She picked up the two-tone faux leopard hat while shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York “with my best gay friend” in 2007.
“I love this hat because it’s soft and furry and it just looks cute.”
She even went as far as coloring her hair to match the hat’s warm tawny and honey hues.
Gail-White recalls believing in a lucky dress with a white bodice, black velvet bow and a skirt covered with strawberries.
“I loved strawberries when I was a child and gave my mother so much hassle because I had to wear that dress every time I had an exam. I was convinced it was my lucky dress.”
Also a fiber artist, she said her favorite piece of clothing is a hand-marbled, silk kimono-style robe bearing a tree-of-life design. She made it in 1986 in honor of her mother after she died, with the idea that she could wear it in spirit in heaven. “It was the only article of clothing that made me cry,” she said.
The robe won the Award of Excellence in the Pacific Handcrafters Guild show that year, and Gail-White wore it once to the old Kahala Hilton. A Japanese visitor admired it and asked in broken English whether she had purchased it in Japan. “When I told her I made it, she started bowing to me.”
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