“Tainted Love” is onstage at Golden Gate Community Center through Feb. 16. While Johnny Grim’s dialogue is a bit stilted in places, the story presents an interesting dive into how a group of female college friends negotiate life-changing decisions.
The catalyst in this light comedy is Julie, played with verve and due seriousness by Gerrie Benzing. She’s invited three friends to her house on the pretense of showing them her husband’s latest handiwork, a backyard gazebo that lists to one side.
But Julie has a much different agenda. She’s decided to leave her husband of 30 years while he’s out of town on business.
“What can I say? Things haven’t been going right by Frank and I for a long time. I realized years ago he lives in a sort of isolated cocoon. It’s like he’s plugged into this battery charger that drip feeds him just enough adrenaline to get through each day. There are no highs and lows with Frank. Just one endless flat line.”
Julie’s friends know from personal experience what lies ahead for a 50-something divorcee. Do they try to talk her out of ditching her shell of a husband or do they support her decision to leave him? The answer lies in their college anthem.
Sometimes I feel I've got to run away
I've got to get away
From the pain you drive into the heart of me
The love we share seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn, I can't sleep at night
Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I run from you
The dynamics of the foursome’s friendship make “Tainted Love” a satisfying evening of theater – despite its awkward dialogue.
MORE INFORMATION:
The cast of “Tainted Love” includes Gerrie Benzing, Sharon Isern, Cindy Sepich and Ruth Johnson.
Gerrie Benzing plays Julie. A local stage and film actor, director and musical theater instructor, Benzing is seen regularly on Southwest Florida stages in both dramatic and comedic roles. View her extensive theater credits here.
Sharon Isern is an actor, artist (steampunkphage.com) and recovering academic (@profpathogen) who’d spent her days teaching and doing virus research with undergraduate students as a professor of Biology at FGCU. She now works from home making art and doing grants administration for the federal government. View her growing body of theatrical work here.
Cindy Sepich previously appeared as Virginia Noyes in the Studio Players production of “It’s Only a Play,” Dixie in “Hollywood Arms” at the Arts Center Theatre on Marco Island, Rose in the reading of “Paradise and Mr. Prince” at Arts Center Theater and Lila in “Silver Alert” at the former Marco Players. She also performed in “37 Postcards” and “Singin’ Broadway” at the Island Theater Company, as well as in many community theater productions in suburban Chicago.
In a career that spans nearly 50 years, Ruth Johnson has performed on dozens of stages in seven states. Some of her favorite roles include the title character in “Mame,” Sally Plumber in “Follies,” Amanda in “Southern Comforts,” Marie Dindon in “La Cage Aux Folles” and Mama Frake in “State Fair.” More recently, she played Big Ethel Satterwhite in Off Broadway Palm’s production of “A Doublewide, Texas Christmas,” Mathilde in “Murder in Paradise” (Off Broadway Palm, 2023), Marlafaye Mosely in The Naples Players’ production of “The Savannah Sipping Society” and Rosie in “The Wedding Singer,” which marked Ruth’s Naples Players debut.
The Studio Players performs in the Joan Jenks Auditorium at Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples.
For more information, telephone 239-398-9192 or visit www.thestudioplayers.org.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.