LALT will host a table reading of “The Glitter Girls,” a new script by
Santa Fe playwright Mark Dunn, at 6:30 pm Saturday, July 15, in the
Performing Arts Center, 1670 Nectar Street in Los Alamos.  Admission is free.

A table reading is a device playwrights use to experience a new play as
actors put in through its paces, in this case as they sit around a table
and read from the script. As such, this will not be an open reading but
rather will feature actors who have been recruited and assigned to the
various roles.    

The table reading is, however, an opportunity for anyone interested to
attend and listen to a new play as it takes its first spin around the
block. Playwright Mark Dunn will attend and can respond to any questions
or observations that listeners might have; “audience” reaction is another way
for a playwright to get feedback on a new script.

“The Glitter Girls” takes place in the present day in the fictional north
Georgia town of Hickman Hills. Hickman Hills is like most southern small
towns: Mayberry on the outside, Peyton Place on the inside. It’s the kind
of American hamlet where people generally try to mind their own business
… and generally fail. Hickman Hills has watched its long abandoned
burlap factory turned into a successful concern for the weaving and
marketing of fashionable woolen snoods, eventually earning itself the
proud moniker: “Snood Capital of the World.” This is no stray fact of
local trivia. A sudden caprice on the part of the woman who almost
single-handedly put the town on the international fashion map, does, in
fact, serve as chief catalyst for this play.

“The Glitter Girls” action occurs on the back porch and adjoining back
yard of one Trudy Tromaine, Hickman Hills’ richest and most illustrious
resident.

“The Glitter Girls” will be read by:

Ian Foti-Landis as ARPEGE LACROIX, Trudy Tromaine’s maid, born Arnold
Cross. Because Arpege is basically a slob, he doesn’t go to great lengths
to convince others of his chosen gender. Toward the end of the play, he
reverts to Arnold.

Ann Revelle as TRUDY TROMAINE, sixty, rich as all-get-out and eccentric
with a capital E. Trudy is president and founder of “The Glitter Girls,”
a woman’s social club and, sometimes, charitable organization. Trudy
understands that she has a town reputation for color and flamboyance and
wears that reputation with pride.

Jacinta Lestone as PATTY WESLEY, twenty-two, the youngest Glitter Girl,
but quite comfortable in the company of her older G.G. sisters. Patty is
a work-in-progress, smart and analytical, feisty but only occasionally
confrontational. Patty is pursuing her Masters Degree in social work at a
local university.

Stuart Rupprecht as CHARLIE SEABURN, twenty-two, son and “representative”
for the absent G.G. Barbara Seaburn. Charlie is studying to be a lawyer
like his mother. He defaults to bashfulness and is not nearly as
assertive as he would like to be, the result, some would say, of having
lived most of his life under the thumb of a domineering, single parent.
But he’s working hard to overcome his deficiencies.

Caroline Evarts as VALERIE FAIRHOPE, forty-five, a former exotic dancer
whose face, though hardened and furrowed with the years, still maintains a
youthful beauty and vibrancy. Val has been beaten up by life but has
refused to stay down for the count.

Jeanne Adkins as FLOSSIE PRICE, fifty-eight, who grew up in rural poverty
but won her personal sweepstakes when she was swept off her feet and put
into both a dental chair and a wedding dress by a local dentist, the
unfortunately named Vincent Price. Flossie has come far, but maintains a
hillbilly sensibility and manner of speaking.

Pat Beck as MAYVONNE RAUSCH, seventy-four and the oldest Glitter Girl, but
by no means the archetypal “little old lady.” Mayvonne’s disposition is
sweet and mothering, but she won’t be pushed around. Mayvonne was a
junior high school teacher, long married but now widowed.

Sally Cassil as MAMIE EWING, sixty-four, the wife of a town councilman
(and soon-to-be candidate for mayor), and owner of her own dress shop; a
handsome, exquisitely-dressed woman, with a sophisticated air about her.
Mamie can’t help it that she’s abrasive and puts people off; it just comes
naturally.

Kate Ramsey as CORINNE CULVERT: thirty-six, going through one hell of a
bad time right now, and it shows in her bedraggled expression and in the
laggard, plodding way she carries herself about. Corinne’s husband is the
bur in her saddle, though she can’t help loving him. A familiar trope.

Michael Adkins as DOWD FOSTER, fifty-five, a recent widower. His late
wife Mary Katherine was a Glitter Girl and he has joined the others to
honor her memory and to show respect for all of the women who had been her
friends. Dowd is a good ol’ boy if there ever was one. He has been a good
provider and a loving father to his son and daughter. Dowd owns a tire
store.