Theatre Workshop of Nantucket: "Lone Star Grace"
Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's season opener, "Lone Star Grace," stars Susan McGinnis as Barbie Ann, a lingerie saleswoman who begins the New Year - and a new life - in a diner off Texas Highway 59. There, Barbie Ann waits on the cusp of her transformation with a bottomless cup of personal revelations, warmed up by the diner's mild-mannered, sweet proprietor, Persephone (played by Laurel Devaney) and Kenneth (Ciaran Byrne), an Irishman in a cowboy hat, on his own "quest for self-discovery." Susan Beaumont plays the sister who brings Barbie Anne a plate of reality from home.

Sardelli, who gets regular work as director in Manhattan and also serves on the dance faculty at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, met the show's playwright, Suzanne Bradbeer, three years ago at the Lark Play Development Center in Manhattan, where the two are both members. "Since then, I've seen every play she's written that's had a production, and she's seen every one I've directed," Sardelli said. "I've been wanting to do something with Suzanne's work for a while now. Her writing has a charm, an intelligence, a gentleness to it - even though her characters tend to be larger than life. … There is always a lot of heart in her plays. … She'll kill me for saying this, but I'd compare her to a new Beth Henley."

When: Wed. - Sat., June 20-23, 27-30;

Sun., June 24, 3 p.m. Where: TWN Main Stage, downstairs at the

United Methodist Church, 2 Centre St. Cost: $25 For more information, please call 228-4305

or go to theatreworkshop.org, where you can also buy tickets.