Devin Boston (back to the camera); (top to bottom) Chloey Garza, Rae Lane, Maddie Rea, Shann Oliver, and Desiree Medina Photo by Hisa Naito

Coastal Repertory Theatre's production of Alan Ball's 1993 Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is packed with sharp-edged jabs, brilliantly scripted one-liners, and physically comic performances often rivaling the likes of Lucille Ball or Carol Burnett. At the same time, the script does not shy away from tough, age-old issues faced by the women, ranging from loveless marriages to the pressure to look like magazine models, AIDS, and sexual abuse.

Knoxville socialite and the top of every local "Best Of" list, Tracy (whom we never meet), has just said her "I do" to handsome, equally successful (and equally invisible to us) Scott. The lah-de-dah reception is in full swing below the bedroom now occupied by her younger sister Meredith, recently graduated from college. Meredith–in desperate search for a marijuana joint–is soon joined one-by-one by the other four bridesmaids, all tragically clad in purple.

Each has a different reason to escape the reception where all are expected to be, but little by little, they begin to discover there are more sisterhood reasons to remain in the room of refuge than just avoiding the events below. Their combination of silly chatter, pointed sniping, both fun and sad reminiscing, and near constant gossip leads to some surprising connections, unexpected bonding, heartfelt consoling, and much-needed mutual understanding.

And through it all, laughter becomes the best medicine for the five of them and for all of us in the audience (many of us hoping to escape at least for a couple of hours the barrage of troubling national news from the past couple of weeks).

Of the five, Trisha soon emerges as the central, driving force of Ball's script. She is one of the two more senior among the group (all of thirty-two years in age) and the bride's best friend from high school. Shann Oliver's Trisha is a bold, brassy, and wise-cracking feminist who has no compunctions admitting she's bedded more than one hundred men and has found no reason to love any of them. Love is not a concept she accepts, saying, "Many guys have loved me, and not a single one has made any difference in my life."

But Trisha does confess that whenever she runs across a guy with "beautiful hands" and his feet in "big, black wingtip shoes," that is a different story. Shann Oliver wonderfully delivers the rolled eyed smirks, snappy quips, and tough-love advice dished out generously that begin to give way to Trisha's softer edges and a big heart hidden inside her seemingly hard exterior.

Trisha may even have met her match in a certain usher named Tripp (short for Griffin Lyle Davenport the Third), who likes to wear a certain style of shoes (guess). The invader of the heretofore female-only haven surprises Trisha by ably standing up to her tough talk and calling her bluff. With clear amusement, Devin Boston's Tripp plays yin to Trisha's yang in an eleventh hour segment of the play that almost becomes its own independent play within the play.

Tracy's other friend from high school days, Georgeanne, enters with a series of stumbles and near tumbles along with a bottle of champagne that finds its way with much frequency to her lips. Chloey Garza is a fully believable afternoon drunk who is escaping not only the crowd below but her own unhappy marriage and regrets about a guy she once dated and still craves, Tommy Valentine (who of course is at the wedding). Matter of fact, part of her current woe is that she spent $100 on "uncomfortable underwear" from Victoria's Secret, hoping by the end of the evening Tripp would rip it off of her. His exit with a hot-looking woman in a dress with no back ("that shows her butt") nixes that plan and sends Georgeanne into arm-flinging, tear-spilling dramatics. Still, Chloey Garza is able to balance Georgeanne's champagne-fueled craze with an authenticity of character that wins over both her new buddies and the audience.

Rounding out the quintet are a threesome who are as different as they come but who eventually become genuine parts of this newfound group of unlikely friends. As Tracy's twenty-one-year-old sister Meredith, Maddie Rea spews like an erupting volcano insults full of bitterness toward her mother (to whom she flashes her bare bottom out the window), her sister's wedding ("It's so goddamned fake, it makes me sick"), and her own life back at home with "fascist" parents in a town she "hates everything about..." But beyond her often hilarious outbursts and increasing ideas how to lash out at her own family, Maddie Rea poignantly reveals a heartbreaking burden Meredith has been carrying alone for too long.

A bit on opposite poles of demeanor, beliefs, and backgrounds are Tracy's naive and self-righteous cousin, Frances (Desiree Medina), who gratingly flaunts her "Christian" morals in everyone's face, and Mindy (Rae Lane), out-proud and out-spoken lesbian sister of the groom who is humorously a klutz and devours trays full of food (even though she is the most petite of the bunch). Each also bit by bit reveals there is much more depth below the surface than appears in their stereotyped entrances, and both actors prove their mettle with convincing performances as each becomes more down-to-earth and worthy of friendship and care by the others.

Much more than just the ongoing comedy that sends audience members into many laugh-out-loud titters, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is a series of personal discoveries and transformations by each of the five principals. Their individual journeys are enabled through a sisterhood that develops among them in ways neither they–nor the audience first us–can predict or expect.

Their back-and-forth interactions punctuated with snark and snap, occasional wails and tears, and slamming of bedroom and bathroom doors do become a bit repetitive in flow and feeling as the second act opens and progresses. The serious subjects introduced here and there are not always given a satisfying sense of resolution or finish by the (male) playwright. Also, the introduction of the one male character, Tripp, in the final fifteen or so minutes feels a bit like an add-on epilogue and perhaps worthy of its own story.

Much of the play's success–beyond the fine performances of the cast and the attention to timing and pace by Director Allie Bailey–emits from the detailed and populated set created by Charlie Kissick and props designer Erica Racz. The large, eclectically decorated bedroom has the mixed feel of Victorian and contemporary and includes huge, multi-paned windows overlooking the reception below. Heather McAvoy's lighting scheme is so well planned and executed that I was totally shocked leaving the Rep's Center when I realized that afternoon had not in reality already turned into nightfall.

Not only will the personalities, quirks, and arcs of personal journeys of these five women long remain in an audience member's memory, but I fear each of us will too long recall the wonderfully hideous mounds of purple taffeta that were brought to hilarious reality by costume designer Michèle Parry. Topped off by silly, flat hats with bows and beads, the women in their near-cartoonish outfits are just one of many reasons to grab a ticket and join in the reception-escape capers of Coastal Rep Theatre's Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress runs through February 16, 2025, at Coastal Repertory Theatre, 1167 Main Street, Half Moon Bay CA. For tickets and information, please visit https://www.coastalrep.com.