A scene from a rehearsal of “Women Shoptalk While Real Men Wait,” which has been going on all week at The Regent in Riverview. Photos courtesy of Carolyn Moore.
“The quality of a play is the quality of its ideas.”
So said George Bernard Shaw, one of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights and the only person ever to win both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award.
Carolyn Moore doesn’t have a golden statute, yet, but the quality of her ideas, showcased in her play Women Shoptalk While Real Men Wait, would surely be met with a nod of approval from Shaw.
Two performances are slated for Spoto High School, 8538 Eagle Palm Drive in Riverview, at 3:30 and 7 p.m. April 4.
A survivor of domestic abuse, Moore uses her play to tell the story of four sisters who have lost their mother and of their struggles. It is based on Moore’s own experience with domestic abuse and violence. Mixing plenty of humor and pathos, the play is ultimately about hope, said the author.
“People need to know God created you with a purpose in life and not to let anyone destroy the temple he created,” said Moore, a Panther Trace resident who is also directing and producing the play.
First performed at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2007, Shoptalk sold out and won standing ovations from audiences — something Moore never imagined when she penned the work.
After taking her play all over the U.S., Carolyn Moore is hoping to take it to Europe.
“I wrote it as a class project for an advanced film performance [class],” Moore told the American Forces Press Service. “My professor handed me the play I’d given him and just said, ‘Here.’ I didn’t know what he meant, because he hadn’t done anything to it,” said Moore, whose husband is a career military officer currently serving at MacDill Air Force Base.
“I expected [the professor] to chop it up, but he said there was nothing he could do to it. He said it was time that I go out and help people with my story.”
Moore, who wrote Shoptalk 10 years after leaving the abusive relationship on which it is based, has staged the play 21 times across the country since that day.
“The play helps women understand they don’t have to stay in an abusive situation. There are ways for you to find life after that,” said Phaaedra Parker, the play’s assistant director who also plays “Momma” in “Shoptalk.” Parker’s daughter, Syriahnne, also plays one of the daughters in the play.
The subject matter may be serious, but there are also plenty of laughs in the production, Parker said. “It’s a hilarious play and has a lot of uplifting spiritual elements,” said Parker, who also pointed to the singing of Lillie McCloud, a popular contestant on the 2013 edition of the X Factor TV talent show who is also performing in the play.
Audience members will often talk with Moore after a performance or a talk — she also gives motivational speeches — coming to her in tears sometimes, saying they are suffering domestic violence.
“I talked to a class last week at Spoto High, and I had some of the teenage girls come up to me afterwards in tears, and I told them ‘There is help out there, and you don’t need to stay in this relationship and endure this kind of pain,’” said Moore, who, in addition to giving the students information about local domestic-abuse hotlines, made sure each girl had a free ticket to her show. “It’s important that they know they are jewels and that God did not make a mistake when he created them and to love themselves,” said Parker, who added that all victims of domestic violence will be admitted free to the play.
All too often victims of domestic violence hide the abuse, Moore said. “That’s what happened to me. No one wanted to talk about it. People pretend that it doesn’t exist — when they really need someone to help them with restoration.”
Tickets for the play cost $28 per person or $25 per person in groups of 10. Students with identification pay $10.
A short clip with highlights of the play is also available online at YouTube by searching for Women Shoptalk While Real Men Wait.
