About the Play:

String of Pearls has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues.

String of Pearls is a full-length drama by Michele Lowe. A fateful thread of magic in the form of a pearl necklace slips from one woman's hands to another's. Passing through a vast myriad of women, String of Pearls offers a passport into each of their private spheres – inner worlds rich with desire, frustration, resentment, yearning, hoping.

String of Pearls bands together the stories of more than two dozen women, all connected to the titular strand of pearls in some way. While the pearls are stolen, bought, bestowed, unstrung and nearly lost, four actresses play 27 characters in this deeply moving drama that is as fresh as it is funny. On the eve of her granddaughter Amy's wedding, Beth asks to see the pearls she gave Amy's mother long ago. When Amy cannot produce them, Beth determines to find the pearls. She takes us back to the time when she received them and then gave them to her daughter, who passed them on to her dearest friend Ela who lost them one Sunday morning. Spanning 35 years, the pearls touch the lives of mothers and daughters, sisters and friends, even husbands and wives as they weave a journey through love, loss, desire and destiny.

String of Pearls premiered in 2003 at City Theatre in Pittsburgh. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is regularly performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, with doubling (may be expanded to as many as 27 actresses)

What people say:

"String of Pearls is a funny and moving tale of a fated necklace that changes the lives of over two dozen characters. Their stories twist and turn through a myriad of emotional turmoil – love, loss, desire – as the necklace touches the lives of all who come into contact with it. The stories and characters, intricately threaded together, create a gently comic, wonderfully magical puzzle." — TheatreChannel.com

"Ms. Lowe's script which is a highly satisfying, often hilarious blend of sex, satire, poignancy and absurdism, with an emphasis on women's relationships and the inevitability of both loss and happiness." — New York Times

"String of Pearls smartly combines comedic romps and get-out-your-hankerchief episodes." — Curtain Up

About the Playwright:

Michele Lowe is an American playwright, lyricist, and librettist. Her plays have been produced across the US and around the world from Paris to Seoul.