‘Summer 1976’ a compelling exploration of women’s friendships
‘Summer 1976’Through Dec. 22Studio Theatre1501 14th St., N.W.$40 – $95Stuidotheatre.org No one is just one thing.
That’s a sometimes-forgotten point made quickly and succinctly in David Auburn’s memory play “Summer 1976.” Now at Studio Theatre, the thoroughly satisfying two-hander tracks the unlikely friendship of Alice (Holly Twyford) and Diana (Kate Eastwood Norris), two very different women who meet as young mothers during the Bicentennial summer.
Diana, an educator and artist, is the gimlet-eyed observer. She makes speedy, decisive judgments ranging from knocking Alice’s middlebrow summer reading (bestsellers “Shogun” and “Coma”) and impossibly messy house to negatively noting her little girl’s incessantly runny nose and even her name – Holly.
Conversely, Alice is a laid-back stay-at-home mom, spending the summer sunbathing in the backyard, watching her daughter splash in the kiddie pool while Merle, a reportedly cute but unseen grad student, paints her house.
