Staged reading of Ephron's 'What I Wore' wows them at library

The capacity audience on Friday night awarded the five Island actresses and their director a standing ovation at the conclusion of “Love, Loss & What I Wore” — a staged reading of Nora and Delia Ephron’s award-winning off-Broadway production, performed on July 6 in the library’s recently transformed community room.

Under the director of Terry Brockbank, Linda Betjeman, Kathy Brockbank, Susan Cincotta, Jenifer Corwin and Sara Mundy showcased 20 character vignettes and more than half a dozen “clothesline” choruses on subjects ranging from growing into “The Bra” to “Black” as a fashion statement and the “Purse” as a fashion indictment.

The almost two-hour-long, rapid-fire, non-stop performance was punctuated with out-loud laughter, although there were poignant moments as well, which the audience acknowledged first with total silence, then with applause. As Variety’s critic Marilyn Stasio wrote, the play is “a bittersweet meditation on the joys and tribulations of women’s lives, reflected through the prism of their clothes.”

The Shelter Island production lived up to its press — and then some.