First ladies open up at Raue

Written by Eric H. Weinberger with Elaine Bromka, and starring the Emmy Award-winning Bromka, the play offers a refreshing, witty and intimate portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon and Betty Ford at threshold moments in their lives.

Bromka has 30 years' experience in film, television, Broadway and Off-Broadway. She appeared as the mom in "Uncle Buck" with John Candy, as Stella on "Days of our Lives," and has made appearances on "E.R.," "The Sopranos" and "Law and Order."

The inspiration for "Tea for Three" came about when Bromka starred opposite Rich Little in "The Presidents," which she performed across the country and on PBS.

Called upon to impersonate eight of the most recent first ladies, she ended up spending months poring over videotapes of the women. Studying nuances of their body language and speech patterns to figure out -- psychologically -- why they moved and spoke as they did, she became more and more drawn in by their personalities.

"These were women of intelligence and grit who suddenly found themselves in a fishbowl," Bromka observed.

"Pat Nixon called it the 'hardest unpaid job in the world.' I realized I wanted to tell the story from their point of view."

Her collaborator, Weinberger, is the author of several plays, including "Class Mothers '68," which garnered a Drama Desk nomination for its star when it was done Off-Broadway. He and Bromka zeroed in on three of the women, linking their stories by revealing each one at the end of her time in the White House.

Directed by Byam Stevens, the play has been packing houses around the country over the past few months, prompting audience delight with unexpected laughter, and breaking box office records this summer in the Berkshires.

The Raue Center is at 26 N. Williams St., in downtown Crystal Lake. Tickets are $40 and $34. Order tickets online at www.rauecenter.org or call the box office at (815) 356-9010.