Nearly being Eleanor Roosevelt
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Judith Ross’s An Almost Perfect Person has been described as “a witty and rollicking piece of theatre constructed with air-tight craftsmanship. We are given a gutsy, always funny and sometimes wicked glimpse of the way things are these days in the political arena and the bedroom.”
After losing her bid for a congressional seat, attractive, widowed Irene Porter is forced to concede that she is “the only woman and only Democrat in New York who lost.” Trying to console her, Dan, her tireless and dashing campaign manager, succeeds in coaxing her into bed. Next morning, Irene awakes to find Dan gone.
To make matters worse, long-time friend and campaign treasurer Jerry arrives to tell Irene that she is $75,000 in debt. In almost the same breath, he declares his love for her and his willingness to leave his “liberated” wife, who, he confesses, has rejected him. Irene feels she should have sensed his difficulty, to which he replies, “Who senses the sex life of a CPA?” With that, she is once more lured into bed.
Within a space of 24 hours, Irene has managed to lose an election and engage in two sexual encounters, and when her lovers meet again face-to-face, the fireworks begin. Now, sexually strait-laced and politically liberated Irene must deal with the two men in her life, who are shocked by her frivolous fling at love. To Jerry, she had been everything: “You were Eleanor Roosevelt. You were a perfect person.” But now, he says, you are “an almost perfect person.”
Filled with warmth, laughter and meaning, this play shows faith in human idealism and a sense of humor about how men and women regard each other.
Judy Marzulli, John Wharton and Bill Amis read the roles. Larry Brewer executes lights and sound, and Frank Simons directs.
The doors open at 7pm, and the show begins at 7:30pm, or earlier if the house fills.