Description

This two-character comedy takes place in suburban Westchester County, New York kitchen of Maude Mix, who is having a tough day: her husband is off on a weekend spree with his secretary and she can't get rid of the pesky neighbor who has just moved up from Texas. Hannah Mae Bindler badgers Maude into friendship and the two eventually join forces against their errant and erring husbands

Credits

Director
Set Designer
Lighting Designer
Costume Design
Costume Design
Properties Designer
Stage Manager
Producer
Master Electrician, Sound & Light Board Operator
Shop Foreman & Set Construction
Stage Crew
House Manager Coordinator

Reviews

A Coupla White Chicks has a lot of pluck; don't miss it
- Mike Cook, Las Cruces Bulletin

There is a lot to enjoy and appreciate about Black Box Theatre's (BBT) current production of A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking, by playwright John Ford Noonan.

This one-act, 70-minute play is set in Westchester County in southeast New York state, but it could take place anytime and anywhere. You can easily imagine Maude Mix (Karen Buerdsell) and Hanna Mae Bindler (Gina DeMondo) in an adobe-walled kitchen in Las Cruces or Mesilla, although Maude might be baking biscochos instead of chocolate-chip cookies as the play opens.

This is a timeless tale of two "mortally wounded suburban housewives," as one of the characters so poignantly describes them. It is a study in contrasts between two very different women, played in this production by two very talented actors.

Gold stars go to Karen and Gina, who already had on-stage chemistry, having worked together in BBT's 2019 production of The Mrs. Wheatland Pageant. They are wonderful as neighbors whose backdoors are a few feet apart but whose lives, at least when they first meet, are worlds apart.

Maude and Hanna Mae share their husband-inflicted wounds with each other in a friendship that is prickly at best to begin with but blossoms, pretty much because Hanna Mae won't give up on Maude. They both take a beating, physically and emotionally, but keep answering the bell for the next round.

It is story of survival, and one of the things I like best about this play is that Maude and Hanna Mae are the only two characters in it. Everything is from their point of view.

Another gold star goes to first-time director Robert "Bobcat" Young. He clearly knew the talent he had in Gina and Karen, and he let them shine.

Kudos also to technical director Peter Herman, light and soundboard operator Bekah Taulbee, set builder Joshua Taulbee, costumer designers Misty Morton and Gillian B. Scarbrough, stage manager and properties designer Darlene DeMondo and stage crew Cassandra Galban.

You can also enjoy the work of local artists in BBT's theater gallery. During the run of the current production, the art show is Chicks and Chicks, and features the works of more than a dozen local artists.

The show continues through Aug. 29 and I encourage you to see it.

Remaining performances at BBT, 430 N. Main St. Downtown, are at 8 p.m. Friday Aug. 20; 8:00 pm; Saturdays Aug. 21 and 28; 2:30 p.m. Sundays, Aug. 22 and 29; and 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19.

Tickets are $15 regular admission, $12 for students and for seniors over age 65; and $10 for the Thursday, Aug. 19, show only.

Masks are required for everyone.

Call 575-523-1223 to reserve tickets or buy tickets online at www.tktassistant.com/Tix/?u=NSTC. For more information, visit no-strings.org.

Seating