Involved with PM&L Theatre for 20 years as an award-winning costume designer, actor, singer, director and board member, Linda Willding now has the chance to direct one of her favorite plays, “Plaza Suite.” The show written by Neil Simon opens Sept. 9 at PM&L Theatre in Antioch.
“I’ve always loved ‘Plaza Suite,'” said Willding of Lindenhurst. “There are three separate lives and stories. The first act is touching. The second act is funny; the third is hysterical, and each one gives you a little bit of thought.”
The play written in 1968 consists of three acts, each one set in Suite 719 at New York City’s Plaza Hotel.
The play endures because of Simon’s excellent playwriting skills, she said, adding the actors will dress in period costume complete with floppy hats, short skirts and go-go boots on a set designed to look like the late 1960s.
The play is timeless because “it shows how a lot of people go through the same things,” Willding said.
“For example, you hit that 50 number and something seems missing. You want to go back and start all over again. That’s what the scenario is about in the first act. A woman goes back to Suite 719 at the hotel trying to recreate her wedding night, thinking it’s her and her husband’s 25th wedding anniversary. She’s like Edith Bunker. She wants to make everybody happy.”
As the act unfolds, however, the woman learns it’s not that easy to turn back time, and that she might have even gotten her dates confused.
“The second act is about a couple that dated in high school and now he’s a successful director, and they hook up in Suite 719 after many years of being out of high school,” Willding said.
“My favorite act is the third act, where a couple’s daughter is getting married. The daughter decides to lock herself in the bathroom in the suite and won’t come out.”
While the woman is telling her daughter to go get married, her husband keeps repeating: “What did you do?”
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“The way he says that in the play makes me laugh every time,” Willding said. “Of course it can’t be anything he did. It had to be something she did.”
The conversations are true to life, and in fact, Simon used much of what happened in his life as fodder for his plays, Willding said.
To add to the play, Willding incorporated 1960s music at the start of each act as a hint to what the story is about. She selected “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling,” “You’re so vain,” and “White on white.”
“This is such a good show with great stories,” Willding said. “It’s entertaining. My cast is fabulous. They are each suited for each character they portray — they just blend and meld so well together. It’s a pleasure to direct them.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer.
‘Plaza Suite’
When: Weekends, Sept. 9-25
Where: PM&L Theatre, 877 N. Main St., Antioch
Tickets: $10-$15
Information: 847-395-3055; pmltheatre.com