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The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls

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The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls is a Canadian comedic play collectively written by Jennifer Brewin, Martha Ross, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Alisa Palmer, and Leah Cherniak. The title is sometimes stylized The Attic, The Pearls And 3 Fine Girls. The play premiered in 1995 at Theatre Centre West in Toronto, starring MacDonald, Ross, and Cherniak. Both the 1995 production and the revival in1997 were nominated for several Dora Mavor Moore Awards. In 2011, the creators of The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls created and performed a sequel titled More Fine Girls.

The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls
Written by
Characters
  • Jojo Fine
  • Jayne Fine
  • Jelly Fine
Date premiered1995 (1995)
Place premieredTheatre Centre West, Toronto, Canada

Characters

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Jojo Fine - a divorced English professor[1]

Jayne Fine - a lesbian financier[2]

Jelly Fine - an artist who loves boxes[2]

Synopsis

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In the prologue, entitled The Past, we are introduced to the three sisters-oldest to youngest: Jojo, a professor who is utterly captivated by her over-seas lover Brecht; Jayne, the systematic big cheese over at Bay Street and the closeted lesbian; and finally Jelly, the self-supporting artist who has a great love for peanut-butter(hence her name being Jelly). We are also introduced to the Torture Dress and the pearls (which are fake). Both of these objects were former possessions of their mother(who was not really their mother at all). Normally played with when the girls played dress up or tea party, she accidentally spilled tea on them when they were little and they have since banned her from ever having a tea party again.
When the Torture Dress is worn, the remaining Fine sisters must carry out whatever duty the sister wearing the dress commands. We are shown the powers of the Torture Dress in the first few moments where Jojo makes Jayne dance. Unlike the Torture Dress, the pearls are not to be played with. We learn this when Jelly lectures her sisters, also telling them that they were not allowed to be shoved into boxes. In the next scene, they have been requested by their father to hold a party one week from today (next Friday) to remember the one-week anniversary of their father's death. Jojo and Jayne do not realize that their father died until the very end of the scene after Jelly informs them seven times.

Production history

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The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls premiered in 1995 at Theatre Centre West in Toronto with Theatre Columbus. The premiere was directed by Alisa Palmer and starred Leah Cherniak as Jelly, Ann-Marie MacDonald as Jayne, and Martha Ross as Jo-Jo. The premiered featured music composed by John Millard and Allen Cole.[2] Jennifer Brewin was listed as a dramaturge for this performance.[3]

In 1997, the same cast and crew revived the production at Buddies in Bad Times.[1] Brewin was credited in this performance as a "contributing artist".[4] In 1999, Thousand Islands Playhouse performed The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls.[5]

More Fine Girls

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In 2011, Palmer, MacDonald, Cherniak, Ross, and Brewin created a sequel to the original play, entitled More Fine Girls. More Fine Girls was supposed to star MacDonald, Cherniak, and Ross reprising their roles as the Fine sisters, but Cherniak dropped out of the play last-minute. Jelly was then played by Severn Thompson.[6] More Fine Girls was performed at Tarragon Theatre and directed by Palmer with assistant direction from Jennifer Brewin.[7]

Awards

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Year Award Category Result Notes Ref.
1995 Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Small Theatre) Outstanding Direction Nominated [8]
Outstanding New Play or Musical Nominated
Outstanding Production Nominated
Female Performance Nominated for Leah Cherniak
Won for Martha Ross [9]
1996 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards N/A Nominated for Leah Cherniak, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Martha Ross in association with Alisa Palmer and Jennifer Brewin [10]
1997 Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Mid-size Theatre) Set Design Won for Dany Lyne [11]
Lighting Design Won for Andrea Lundy
Outstanding Production of a Play Nominated [12]
Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Play Nominated for Ann-Marie MacDonald

References

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  1. ^ a b Chapman, Geoff (1997-03-09). "Something mad in the attic". Toronto Star. p. E7 – via ProQuest.
  2. ^ a b c Wagner, Vit (1995-03-01). "The Attic's material often quite funny". Toronto Star. p. D1 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ Kate, Taylor (1995-03-03). "A remarkable balancing act of comedy and drama". The Globe and Mail. p. D9 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Cushman, Robert (1997-03-08). "Sisters wrestle skeletons in attic". The Globe and Mail.
  5. ^ "[Out of town]: [1 Edition]". Toronto Star. 1999-06-22. p. 1 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (2011-03-09). "They can go home again". The Globe and Mail. p. R1. ISSN 0319-0714.
  7. ^ Ouzounian, Richard (2011-03-14). "These Fine Girls haven't aged well". Toronto Star. p. E3 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ "Nominations for '95 Dora Awards". Toronto Star. 1995-05-13. p. J13 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ Wagner, Vit (1995-06-27). "Music to the ears Tommy & Assassins whistle up five Dora Awards apiece". Toronto Star. p. C1 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ Crew, Robert (1996-03-14). "New writers contest Chalmers play awards". Toronto Star. p. D4 – via ProQuest.
  11. ^ "Dora Winners List". Toronto Star. 1997-09-30. p. E5 – via ProQuest.
  12. ^ "Major Dora Mavor Moore nominations". Toronto Star. 1997-09-12. p. D13 – via ProQuest.
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