Clinton resident Dana Linn has entrusted her locks to hair stylists the world over, but none are as dear to her heart as Golene, a parodical Southern woman with a deep penchant for hair spray, leopard print and her 1960s-style beehive.
Linn has long been a professional writer, penning articles for magazines from Japan to Whidbey Island.
“Lather, Rinse, Repeat,” a comedic musical featuring main character Golene, a cartoonish salon owner, is Linn’s first go at playwriting.
The show will premiere with a staged musical reading through OutCast Productions at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 and will continue Saturday, Nov. 15, and Friday, Nov. 21 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, at the Black Box Theater in Langley. A special donors night will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, for those who contributed $100 or more to Linn’s Kickstarter campaign.
The Kickstarter was launched in the spring so that Linn could hire musical arranger Linda Dowdell, who agreed to produce sheet music for the show. Through the campaign, Linn raised a total of $8,401, surpassing her goal of $8,000.
The staged musical reading will include costumes, some set design and a full cast including a group of vocal accompaniments. It is also a first for OutCast, which is adding a “New Works Series,” beginning with “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” The series will offer playwrights like Linn an opportunity to see their work performed on stage in front of a live audience in hopes of gaining insight and receiving feedback before proceeding in the process toward a fully staged production.
Kathryn Sandy O’Brien, producing director and president, and Ned Farley, artistic director and treasurer, of the non-profit OutCast Productions noted that the primary goal of the theater is and has always been to produce “theater on the edge.” Since its inception in 2011, O’Brien, Farley and the rest of the team have tackled issues that some others in the theater community may have feared “too hot” to discuss openly, such as marriage equality, LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, inter-sex and asexual) rights, terrorism, hostage situations, dysfunctional families and working-class poverty.
“We realized there was a niche that wasn’t being filled,” said Farley, explaining that he and O’Brien recognized that many community members were interested in plays dealing with social consciousness.
“It sounds dry, but we try to choose things that have a balance, like life has a balance of laughter and sorrow,” said O’Brien. “Occasionally we throw in something that is just totally fun.”
O’Brien and Farley will be co-directing “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.”
Linn’s over-the-top musical is, according to Farley and O’Brien, undoubtedly joyful.
Four years ago, Linn performed as a backup singer for a folk artist who had a set entitled “Women With Hair.” Linn, a self-described “theater person” came upon the realization that she would prefer to adopt a persona.
“When we were rehearsing one day I said ‘I can’t do this as me, I’d rather have some sort of persona because I am not a folk person,” she said. “So we raided the costume trunk and found this huge, big, ratty beehive.”
That, said Linn, was the genesis of what would eventually become the larger-than-life Golene, whose mantra “The higher the hair, the closer to Jesus” is a popular Southern maxim she takes quite seriously.
After the run with “Women With Hair,” Linn continued to seek comedic and creative inspiration from friends and acquaintances, sought consultation with editors and workshopped with local Whidbey actors in the development of “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” Linn and friends presented two songs as a guest artist for a Comedy Island performance, at which point she said she realized that the musical’s chops were indeed up to snuff.
“They were laughing and screaming so loudly during one song I couldn’t sing over them,” she said. “So I thought’ OK it’s not just me in my living room. People really think it’s funny.’ ”
Aside from the stuck-in-the-past Golene, the show is cast with five distinct characters, including salon workers such as Cloud, the self-described eco-stylist; Anime, a manicurist; customers and two backup vocalists.
Cloud, Linn explained, could very well be from Whidbey. She offers a stark contrast to her boss, Golene, with all natural techniques and a preference for saltwater over hair spray.
“They are always knocking heads,” Linn said.
“A lot of women have a really special relationship with their hair stylist. They tell us things, we tell them things,” said Linn. “Every six or eight weeks we have this really intense half hour with somebody that we don’t know very well, who we trust with how we look.”
That relationship and the numerous character options creates a bounty of comedic fodder, said Linn.
Eventually, said Linn, she would like to shop the play to community theaters nationwide.
Tickets for the OutCast Production cost $12 and are available for purchase online at Brown Paper Tickets or can be reserved and paid for at the door with an email to ocp@whidbey.com.
