The Avenue Theatre’s ‘String of Pearls’ wows female audiences

Some plays are meant for specific audiences. String of Pearls, at the Avenue Theatre through Feb. 28, is one of them.

With the eye producer Bob Wells has for successful plays for a women’s audience, one must defer to his acumen. The ladies swarmed to see For Girls Only until the play was finally optioned by The Garner Galleria and ran forever there. His production of Michele Lowe’s Smell of the Kill knocked ’em on their proverbial derriere’s for weeks.

Other successes included the brilliant two-woman show written and acted by local favorites Pam Clifton and LuAnn Buckstein. The show is well directed by Gillian McNally, daughter of famous University of Northern Colorado theatrical director, Tom McNally. The cast includes two women who have become Denver favorites on the Avenue’s stage: Elgin Kelley in Dog Sees God, and Amie Mackenzie in Sylvia.

Two new actresses round out the cast: Megan Pettigrew and Samantha Provenzano. The four actors perform the parts of 37 characters. The scenic design is made up of panels and platforms taken from a grey, white and beige template. Director McNally wants it to make the women pop out more. The set has no jagged edges. Everything is round and soft.

The story is about the passage of a string of pearls through the hands of numerous women in various situations and across generations. One woman purchases a daughter’s freedom with them and a friendless woman is suddenly befriended because of them. As the pearls pass from one woman to another they become “a metaphor for opportunity and transition” in their lives.