Three former first ladies will be sharing secrets in Maplewood this weekend as portrayed by Montclair Emmy Award-winning actress Elaine Bromka. The one-woman show Lady Bird, Pat & Betty: Tea for Three — presented by What Exit? Theater Company is a witty and intimate behind-the-scenes look at Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford, which reveals the personal cost of what Mrs. Nixon called the “hardest unpaid job in the world.”
“These were women of intelligence and grit who suddenly found themselves in a fishbowl,” Bromka observed. “I wanted to explode myths. Pat was called ‘Plastic Pat’ in the press, for example, because she was always smiling. Look more closely at her eyes, though. There’s nothing plastic about her. You see the eyes of a private, watchful survivor.”
The play will be performed on Friday, October 8 at 8pm, Saturday, October 9 at 3pm and Sunday October 10 at 3pm at the Burgdorff Cultural Center 10 Durand Road in Maplewood. For tickets, call 973-763-4029. Click here for a preview.