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Hawkeye Community Theatre will be hosting a production of "Always A Bridesmaid" from Wednesday through Saturday.
The show is a comedy about four friends who make a vow to be in each other's weddings. The story shows the strength of these Southern women's longstanding friendship through the hilarious misadventures of love.
The play was written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten.
This production is being directed by first-time director Jody Ekstrom.
Ekstrom said she was drawn to the many comedic scenes in "Always A Bridesmaid."
"It’s a comedy about four brides or four friends that met in high school, and they made a pact their senior year that they were going to be each other’s bridesmaids," she said. "Over the 40 years, they’ve been each other’s bridesmaids, and they get into some real hijinks. It’s comical throughout the whole play, and I just found it very comical. I fell in love with the story because it’s by Jones, Hope and Wooten, and they’re very funny themselves."
A staple of Hawkeye Theatre, and community theater in Fort Dodge, is that of the comedy.
"I think (Fort Dodge) really finds them funny," said Ekstrom about Fort Dodge's proclivity for comedies. "We’ve done some Hope, Jones, and Wooten plays before, and they seem to really find those Southern comedies funny."
The cast consists of Nichole Jergens, Alisha Barnes, Landra Carroll, Dawn O’Connor, Heidi Ingram, and Shamika Dillard.
"This is my first time directing, and I find it has a real learning curve," Ekstrom said. "Stephanie (Coble-Day) is my mentor, and it’s been really interesting learning and having the six women that I’m directing. They're all really interesting and they make it fun and they all just have different personalities and they bring something interesting to each of the characters, and I have really enjoyed working with each and every one of them."
Directing a play also entails managing the technical side of production, such as costumes and set design.
Ekstrom has taken an audience-forward approach to this, saying, "Oh, I’ve enjoyed it so much. I'm trying to make sure that the audience can see each and every one of the costumes and making sure that they can see everybody on the set. It’s a learning experience for myself, and I hope it’s a good learning experience for them too."
This may be Ekstrom's first time directing, but she has had a lot of experience helping behind the scenes at Hawkeye.
"I’ve been a stage manager for Stephanie, helping back there. I’ve always enjoyed being behind the scenes more so than being on the stage, and I’ve been in several Hawkeye plays," she said. "I’ve always been the one hunting for the props and the costumes when it comes to looking for that sort of thing."
She said the Fort Dodge community has done a good job getting behind Hawkeye Community Theatre.
"I see it being supported pretty, pretty well. I always see new people at the theater. I hear people talking about it. I always hear positive things being said about it, so I think the community really backs Hawkeye with the things that I hear being said," Ekstrom said. "They like the idea of having it from children to older people being in it, and the idea of it being community oriented is really a very positive thing."
The play will run from Wednesday through Saturday with shows at 7 p.m. each night, and a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $10 and are available at the box office by going to https://hawkeyetheatre.com/box-office.