When Annie’s husband John dies of leukemia, she and best friend Chris resolve to raise money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. Blasting away all preconceptions of what it is to be in the Women’s Institute, they manage to persuade a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire town WI to do an extraordinary thing and to make an artistic nude calendar to raise money for charity. The news of the women’s charitable venture spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but up turning preconceptions is a dangerous business and none of them expect the emotional and personal ramifications that follow but, gradually, the making of the fabulous and funny calendar causes each of the women to unexpectedly blossom. Based on the true story of eleven WI members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukaemia Research Fund.
The True Story The story of the Calendar Girls began in 1998 when John Baker, husband of Angela Baker, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. John sadly passed away after just a few months of treatment, but in the months following their loss, Angela and her friends set about creating the now famous calendar as something for Angela to focus on and, also, to prove John wrong – he had said they’d never do it! Through the sale of their calendars, the group aimed to raise enough money to buy a new sofa for the hospital where John had been treated and were amazed when the calendar attracted international press attention.
Director – Rosemary Lounsbury
Assistant Director – Scott Lounsbury
Cora – Jennifer Gagne
Chris – Phoebe VanScoy-Giessler
Annie – Laura Cooper
Jessie – Melanie Maggie Dixon
Celia – Michaela O’Rourke Andruzzi
Ruth – Jayson C. Andrews
Marie – Sarah Kuhn
Brenda Hulse – Carol Bense
John – Russ Ellis
Rod – Robert Tuttle
Lady Cravenshire – Rondi Boyer
Lawrence – Robby Sturtevant
Elaine – Susan Martin
Lia – Chelsea Krautmann
Calendar Girls is generously sponsored by Richard J. Neal, DMD.
Thank you, Dr Neal!
“Calendar Girls” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com