LTGI’s production of Ann continues through April 2 at LC Shoebox Theater

Don’t dally. Get your tickets now for one of the four remaining performances of Ann, the latest theatrical gift from Laredo Theater Guild International.

There are three 7:30 p.m. performances – Thurs., March 30; Fri., March 31; and Sat., April 1 – and a 3:30 p.m. matinee on Sun., April 2. The intimacy of the Shoe Box Theater on the Fort Mac campus of Laredo College is a perfect venue for this production.

Superlatives like “riveting” and “brilliant” fall short to describe Tami Summers’ performance in this one-woman show that charts and recaps the personal and political life of Ann Richards, the 45^th governor of Texas (1991 – 1995).

Adept with comedic agility, Summers piloted seamlessly in the March 25 performance to segue from Richards’ high-octane political narratives to the funny though bittersweet recall of a childhood that endowed the governor with the savvy, grit, charm, and armor to become one of the State’s most progressive, effective, and beloved leaders.

The play’s author, Holland Taylor, softens the governor’s edgy political life with her role as a mother, and Summers delivers that with a tenderness that contrasts with Richards’ assessments of the ruthless and the inept political figures of the day.

In Ann the audience is witness to the formidable powerhouse that was Ann Richards in office at a time that partisanship invited dialogue and decorum and did not bear vile, hard-held behaviors that dehumanize populations in peril such as migrants and their children.

A conversation with the play’s producer Karen Mejia and Summers offered details for how Summers came to portray Ann Richards.

“Karen had seen the play. When we talked about it I understood that the issues of that time were still relevant today, that we had backtracked and lost our voice to speak up. We’ve lost Roe v. Wade. Gun legislation has yet to be removed from the states and decided by federal law. The pendulum has swung to give us a Texas legislature looking at people being able to sue drag queens instead of doing something about guns that kill children in their schools,” Summers said.

“It was a simple choice for me. I knew Tami had what was needed to tell this story,” Mejia said.

“I liked Ann Richards then and more now,” Summers said, adding, “She was real and funny – authentic. Had she gone on to serve at the national level, I believe she would have moved us all ahead.”

According to Summers, the part of the play she found most endearing was Richards speaking by phone with each of her children to plan Thanksgiving and a fishing outing. “She held onto her humanity and kept them together,” she observed.

Summers said she prepared for the portrayal of Richards by immersing herself in researching individuals and events referenced in the script as well as reading interviews and Richards’ speeches – including the keynote at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

“The work came down to the lines and the segues. I had the 40-page script with me at all times. I had it on my iPad, and I had pages of dialogue taped to the shower. I read nothing else so that I would not be distracted from learning the lines and the timing,” she said.

Asked what the takeaway lesson was for bringing Ann to the stage, Mejia and Summers confessed that they concluded that compared to Richards’ drive to get things done, they were “slackers.”

As to the accent for portraying the governor, Summers revealed, ”It’s latent – hidden, but still there in my East Texas roots. My mother is named Glenda Kay and my aunts are named Dixie Ann and Martha Jean. They sound like that.”

The success of LTGI’s production of Ann is the sum total of the efforts of many – Summers’ off-stage co-star Kathy Hagy Navarro; the show’s producers and directors; its costumer and hair dresser; stage, sound, and lighting crews; lenders of props; and donors.

“It took about 50 of us to bring Ann to the stage,” Mejia said, opening

a binder filled with sheets of lists of items needed for the production – who will acquire them, where to get them, phone numbers, and if they were acquired.

She said she prefers the detailed work of a producer to being on the stage. “The spoken word and I have a difficult relationship. I write far better than I can recite verbally,” she said.

Of the production of Ann, Mejia noted, “This is a story that is so timely and worth telling. It speaks the truth carried out with a lot of love and humor. Many in the audience knew the trailblazing role of Ann Richards in the history of the State. Some knew her personally. For those who had never heard of her, they learned of a great woman, a true Texas original.”

She added, “The reward – the return on the countless hours of many volunteers – is in the reaction of the audience. Theater touches lives by putting forth the truth in a story like Ann. And that truth inspires those of us backstage, on stage and in the audience to go out and do our part to make the world a better place.”

According to Summers, “Ann Richards was a role model for getting things done. Each of us knows we can be more involved than we are in our community and in government, that we can do more to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of others.”