Women (over 40) behaving badly
Many people can identify with having crazy family members. The Valley Players Theater Group is no exception.
The group is transforming a Pulitzer-winning movie — “August: Osage County” — into a play. June Reif, one of the founders of Valley Players, believes the movie was “extremely well written.”
“It's about the disintegration of the American family,” said Reif. “Even though it has a lot of dark humor, it's also a chance to set back and watch and say `I'm glad that's not my family.'”
Reif hopes the audience can compare their own experiences with the family dysfunction in the play.
“Family drama is almost never as bad as we think it is,” said Reif.
Valley Players was founded in 2016. Their mission is “empowering women over 40 through the theater arts.”
“What some of us found was that once we got older, there seemed to be less and less meaningful roles for women our age. Yes, you could play someone's crazy aunt or a side character but we're talking about juicy, meaty things,” said Reif. “The older anyone gets (regardless of gender), the more experiences they have and the more wisdom they have. The more interesting stories they have to tell.
“When you reach a certain age and you find out suddenly no one wants to listen
to what you have to say or even see you as a real person,” Reif continued. “I think we are all still very valuable people in society and I think
that we deserve to have a voice.”
Women over 40 tend to carry traditional tropes, including one-dimensional
mothers or caregivers. August: Osage County has multiple female leads with dynamic characters.
“It has five roles for women over 40 — all of which are really interesting roles. There are well-rounded female characters,” said Reif. “The way that (Osage) is written is Shakespearean in its complexity. What you think is a simple story turns out to be not just a simple story in the end. It's super engaging. A patron watched (the theater adaptation) and said he forgot he was watching a play. He was so engrossed.”
Valley Players will be performing weekends March 24, and 25 at 7 p.m., as well as March 26 at 2 p.m. at the Yountville Community Center.