In The Pompano Players’ ‘Love, Loss, and What I Wore,’ Every Closet Tells a Story

A person’s wardrobe can evoke just as many memories as their camera roll or scrapbook can. My own closet still boasts the cozy zip-up hoodie I gave my bat mitzvah guests as a party favor, the classic floor-length black dress I wore to my senior prom, and the chunky orange-and-green beads my university handed out at graduation. Love, Loss, and What I Wore takes this idea of one’s closet being a time capsule and brings it to life onstage, kicking off the Pompano Players’ inaugural season at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center in the most unforgettable, relatable, and of course, hilarious way possible.

There’s no doubt about it: Love, Loss, and What I Wore hosts a comedic dream team at its helm! The play was written by sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (Nora is the undisputed queen of the romcom, writing and directing classics such as When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail, and Delia just made her Broadway debut as a playwright this fall, penning a stage adaptation of her autobiography Left on Tenth) and is based on the book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. In the Pompano Players’ production, incredible work by Producer Kevin Barrett, Director Jeremy Quinn, and Assistant Stage Managers Amanda Lopez and Elizabeth Guerra imbue the play with the humor and heart it’s been giving audiences for decades, along with their own unique flair that makes this version of Love, Loss, and What I Wore even more special.

The show has a small cast, which only adds to the feeling of intimacy and connection viewers derive from the stories being told. It is organized as a series of monologues, providing the audience with vignettes of the characters’ lives, and uses a cast of five principal women. The sole character whose story is not contained to a single monologue, and is rather woven throughout the play, is Gingy (Christine Chavers), who serves as the narrator. Formative snapshots of Gingy’s life, as told in relation to various pieces of clothing—starting with her Brownies uniform as a child and extending beyond—are interspersed between other monologues. The rest of the cast, made up of Woman #2 (Francine Birns), Woman #3 (Raven Adams), Woman #4 (Rachel Ihasz), and Woman #5 (Sarah Romeo), all take on a variety of different roles over the course of the production. Each of the five actors is tasked with the difficult mission of balancing the play’s lighthearted, funny moments with the more serious, tear-jerking points in the story. Their success at establishing that delicate balance really speaks to this cast’s versatility and talent—they had me (and the rest of the theater) laughing out loud one moment and reaching for tissues the next.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore’s set design, lighting design, and costuming are all relatively simple as well, emphasizing the story’s narrative weight and impact. Thanks to the work of crew members including Scenic Designer Claudia Smith and Lighting Designer Stevie Bleich, the subtlety of the set and lighting design draw the audience further into the characters’ worlds. The stage is bookended by racks of brightly colored, eye-catching clothing, which are often used during the production, but the characters themselves are dressed in black (a particular monologue even speaks about why black is many women’s go-to color, and why no other hue will ever become “the new black”). This costuming choice also hints at some of the more somber storylines portrayed in Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and how many of the women use clothing to talk about the struggles they have experienced throughout their lives. 

Another core strength of Love, Loss, and What I Wore is the production’s impressive ability to make the specific feel universal. The monologues flesh out distinct moments that are personal to the characters—a young girl is taken aback when she sees her new stepmother clad in the same bathrobe her late mother used to wear, a teenager waffles back and forth on which dress to wear to prom, a college student reinvents parts of her wardrobe after suffering a traumatic assault, but continues to wear her favorite boots, a group of women deal with dressing room anxiety, among many other stories. However, while the monologues shine in their specificity, the themes they convey also ensure that they resonate with audience members who may not have gone through similar experiences. No human being is a stranger to love or loss, whatever those things mean to them personally. And regardless of whether one’s style is trendy or timeless, daring or demure, individuals will always relate items in their wardrobe to moments in their lives. Such is the power of Love, Loss, and What I Wore—the play will leave you feeling connected to this cast of characters, while also looking at your own life in an entirely new light. So don your well-loved pair of jeans or your brand-new pair of shoes, invite someone special to you, and go see this remarkable show before it concludes its run!

Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs through October 20 at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. To find out more about the production and purchase your tickets, click here. 

And you won’t want to miss the very first season from the Pompano Players, a new resident theatre company operating out of the Pompano Beach Cultural Center! Join the Pompano Players as they work to unite the community through the power of the arts, and provide an unforgettable experience that celebrates creativity, culture, and connection. For more information about their 2024-25 season, click here.

The post In The Pompano Players’ ‘Love, Loss, and What I Wore,’ Every Closet Tells a Story appeared on South Florida Theater.