‘Grace & Glorie’ share life lessons in Island Players’ season closer
ANNA MARIA – The Island Players’ 76th theatrical season ends on a high note this weekend with Friday and Saturday evening performances of “Grace & Glorie” and a season ending final performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 18.
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s shows. Tickets are $18-$28 and can be purchased at the box office, 10009 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria, an hour before the show or online at www.theislandplayers.org. For more information call 941-778-5755 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Setting the stage
Written by Tom Ziegler and set in the early 1990s, directed by longtime Island Players’ director and actor James Thaggard, co-produced by the Ugly Grouper restaurant and performed by two cast members who had to memorize an 83-page script, “Grace & Glorie” is the tale of an unlikely friendship formed between Grace Stiles (played by Nancy Denton), a 90-year old “backwoods redneck” who’s dying of cancer and Gloria “Glorie” Whitmore (played by Jennifer Kwiatkowski), a middle-aged former New York City go-getter trying to regain her bearings after suffering a tragic loss and relocating to rural Virgina with her husband, Peter, who’s more easily adapting to a slower-paced lifestyle than she is.
As a new hospice volunteer, Glorie is assigned to drive “20 miles up the mountain” to assist Grace during her dying days. Grace lives in a small cottage on the 500-acre farm and beloved apple orchard where she spent her entire adult life; a property now slated for demolition and redevelopment as a timeshare community.
Despite the backdrop of impending death, “Grace & Glorie” is more introspective, inspirational and funny than it is sad. With no one else sharing the stage, Denton and Kwiatkowski deftly carry all five scenes of the two-act play using acting skills developed and refined during their many years as community theater actors.
At first, Grace wants nothing to do with Glorie and her big city ways and she makes that abundantly clear. But despite her initial exasperations, Glorie is determined to carry out the volunteer assignment she’s been given, and the personal quest that inspired it.
The ice between the drastically different strangers begins to thaw when bed-ridden Grace needs to relieve herself and the pair is forced to contemplate the use of a family heirloom.
The interplay between the two talented actors ranges from reluctance and frustration to sympathy, caring and loving and Denton and Kwiatkowski bring all those far-ranging emotions to life.
Kwiatkowski’s comedic abilities are on display as Glorie tries to navigate the complexities of cooking breakfast on a woodburning stove and encounters some of Mother Nature’s little critters along the way. Kwiatkowski also conveys Glorie’s hard-earned business sense and the anger and sense of unfairness she feels about Grace’s mountain farm and beloved apple orchard being destroyed.
While portraying Grace’s suspicious, guarded and no-nonsense nature, Denton throws verbal zingers Glorie’s way and questions why she’s bothering her in her dying days. Denton is equally adept at portraying Grace’s softer, more vulnerable side and her determination to finish knitting a sweater for a 13-year old great-niece she’s never met provides her with a final task to complete before death comes calling.
As their days and nights together unfold in Grace’s little cottage, the women begin to better understand each other as they discuss and examine their own life choices, each other’s life choices, their marriages and parental experiences, their religious faith (or lack thereof) and the losses they’ve suffered along the way.
As those conversational explorations deepen, Grace and Glorie question the overall meaning of life, the purpose of their own lives and whether their lives have made any difference in the grand scheme of things. And as their shared journey nears its end, Denton and Kwiatkowski engage in a tender scene of surrender and triumph involving facial makeup and a video camera.
Denton and Kwiatkowski earned every bit of applause they received after each performance. As did Thaggard for the direction and guidance he provided his two hand-picked actors during their challenging but rewarding theatrical pursuit.
Roll the credits
Hats off to the stage, set, sound and lighting crew members who helped transform the Island Players’ stage into a mountain cabin that dispensed wisdom and important reminders about the power of friendship, the meaning of life, embracing each other’s differences and making the best of whatever and whomever comes your way. And kudos for the similar work they performed during the season’s previous productions.
And let us not forget the ushers, ticket takers, box office workers and other volunteers who helped make “Grace & Glorie” and the other plays performed this season an enjoyable experience for the residents, visitors, donors and advertisers who support the Island Players and help ensure community theater remains a thread in the cultural fabric of Anna Maria Island.
A season interrupted
The Island Players’ 2024-2025 season began Sept. 19 with “Crimes of the Heart,” a production that came to a grinding halt after six performances when Hurricane Helene struck the Island and the city-owned theater building.
The ensuing recovery process resulted in the cancellation of the mid-November production of “Doublewide Texas Christmas.” The season resumed on Jan. 19 with the romping romantic comedy, “Birthday Suite,” followed by the comedic murder mystery, “Death by Design,” in which Thaggard had a starring role.
Island Players’ Executive Director Sylvia Marnie starred as Liz in “Birthday Suite” and when looking back on the season she said, “The 2024-2025 season was a struggle due to the two hurricanes, but once again our amazing resilience pulled it together and we marched on even though many of our volunteers had lost their homes. We had some incredible generosity from several businesses and individuals alike and we were humbled by the outpouring of love and concern from our theatre community.”
The Island Players’ 2025-26 season will be announced during the first week of July.
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