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Published: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 07:09 PM

Take the plunge: 'Dixie swim club'

FORT MILL -- 

Girlfriends are forever.

The true love appears, then the kids, but always, the girlfriends are forever. Health problems, kids grow up, jobs disappear, but girlfriends are forever. Gray hair appears, hubby disappears, but girlfriends are forever.

The latest production of the Fort Mill Community Playhouse, “The Dixie Swim Club” follows a group of women who met on the high school swim team and continue their friendship with periodic weekends at a beach house.

“This play is such a well written show by really good writers,” says Polly Adkins, the director. “There's a laugh a minute about five women and their enduring friendships.”

Adkins talked about the play, her theatre background, and her experiences with the Fort Mill Community Playhouse as the actors and backstage crew arrived for another night of rehearsal.

“What the audience will find is someone they know in the characters. Many in the cast have weekends with school chums; I get together every year with friends at the beach myself,” Adkins says.

The cast includes Karen Lee and Constance Collins from Fort Mill; Elyse Williams from Matthews, N.C., and Jennifer Hubbard and Carol Weiner of Charlotte. Their characters include a “perky, upbeat, former nun; the perennial team captain; a wisecracking cynic; a true Southern belle; and a hard luck case.”

The set of “The Dixie Swim Club” features a living room of a typical Outer Banks beach home with a side porch and rockers and a kitchen.

Stage Manager Susan Capotosto has used her superb artistic skills to paint murals of beach scenes around the porch.

“This play shows off really good Southern women and the set shows off a really good Southern beach house,” Adkins says.

This production is the last of this season for the Fort Mill Community Playhouse. Next year, the playhouse will kick off a stellar year celebrating its 30th year of great theatre.

“This theatre has built up a wonderful reputation over the years,” says Adkins. “From a small town group the playhouse has become a regional theatre. All the people who are involved from onstage to backstage have varied theatre backgrounds. I've worked with different theatre groups, too, and Fort Mill has some of the most creative, most innovative folks which makes for very good theatre for the audience.

“Once, I needed a tree stump for a production,” Adkins continues. “From a theatre catalog we could have ordered one for $350, but the set crew of the playhouse created one in house. It was remarkable.”

For its anniversary year, the playhouse is reprising past productions. The musical in March 2010 is “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” The May presentation is “Bandstand Tales,” by local Playwright Mignon Ballard. The youth production in July is “Aesop's (Oh So Slightly Updated) Fables.” The September dinner theatre is “Catfish Moon.” And the November presentation is “The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever.”

Over the years Adkins has acted in Fort Mill's productions of “Gypsy,” and “Steel Magnolias.” Adkins has lent her directing talents to “Bandstand Tales,” “Rubies,” and “The Littlest Angel.”

As for “The Dixie Swim Club,” her directing skills help the actresses keep the characters real. “This play is very real, very funny and a slice of life that the audience will recognize and will laugh right along.”