My research of Epilogue Players’ Foolish Fishgirls and the Pearl began at a standing start. I am not at all familiar with the script, the playwright – one Barbara Pease Weber, nor any mermaid lore in general. Searching the play’s title, I surprisingly found a long list of entries advertising, reviewing, touting, discussing, and encouraging attendance to this very whimsical fantasy at theatres around the country.
Director Kelly Keller has a penchant for finding hidden scripts – those not very often produced – though I must say FF&tP gets a good bit of production. For this particular endeavor, Keller has collected a cast packed with veteran actors, many with Encore and/or Mitty awards to their names. The result is quite remarkable.
Susan Hill and Barb Weaver are well paired as two mermaids out of water, Coral and Oceana – sisters who 30 years ago had found sailors to love, thus becoming land-based before losing their treasures to the lying scoundrels. (Part of mermaid lore, we learn, is that they all have treasures which they share if they fall in love with a man.) Now they are stuck on dry land running a failing bed and breakfast on the New Jersey shoreline.
Sisters Oceana (Barb Weaver, left) and Coral (Susan Hill) contemplate their shaky future. (Photo by Duane Mercier)
Local curmudgeon Floyd, sharply played by Larry Adams, is both a friend and an irritant, especially for Coral, who loves to do verbal battle with him. A third mermaid, Marina, appears to have been far luckier in her choice of mates and now holds the mortgage on the B&B. Tracy Herring does a terrific job conveying the snootiness of this “nose-in-the-air” former sea-sprite. Eventually Marina’s catch also proves to be a stinker and she too is left flat broke.
When Nathan (Vincent Pratt), a Coast Guard Lieutenant, has a car accident on a bridge and is rescued by a romantic young mermaid named Pearl (Erin Keller), the erstwhile fishgirls try to convince the lovestruck Pearl to forego the opportunity to convert to having legs. Mayor/Sheriff/Justice of the Peace/Dogcatcher Sheila (a very emotive Sarah Froehlke) comes into the mix as the plot becomes more colorful and deeper.
Foolish Fishgirls and the Pearl is a complicated story. A longish exposition first hides the fact that Coral and Oceana are mermaids, then reveals that they are and details what memories and folklore we need to know in order for the story to take hold. Next comes the accident, a snow storm, a plot twist, and a longish denouement that is both very touching and very silly all at once. It’s a different and difficult script and as the tale unfurls, the terrific storytelling talents of the cast become more and more important.
Bottom line: Foolish Fishgirls and the Pearl is a fun and fluffy fantasy, well-cast and well-directed, with plenty of laughs, a complex plot, and a satisfying ending. And it’s always fun for Mrs. K and I to see friends having such a good time playing onstage.
Foolish Fishgirls and the Pearl continues at Epilogue Players’ theatre at 19th and Alabama streets in Indianapolis through Sunday, Feb. 25. For more information about dates, times and reservations, go to epilogueplayers.com.
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