Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/635424
12 FEBRUARY 3-9, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200. Ever since Vivian Leigh sashayed her way through Gone With the Wind with her flirtatious winks and wicked laughter and her unbreakable strength in the face of adversity, Southern women have been the stuff of which legends are made. For those of us fortunate enough to have been raised by good Southern mommas, there is a mystical sisterhood that is encrypted in our genes as surely as whether or not we have blue or green eyes. It is a knowing how to do things right, an iron will that is disguised by our slow drawl and our ever present "bless your heart." It is not something that can be copied or imitated. You either are a Southern woman or … you are not. Elaine Alexander falls into the first category. Raised on a farm, which has been in her family for more than four generations, Alexander proudly calls Fayetteville her hometown. Her cousins — first, second and third — still live nearby and family gatherings are more like a reunion than a visit. That being said, Alexander has a keen understanding of the psyche of Southern women. Her parents, Dave and Barbara Wilson are still active in the community. Dave was the president of Fasco Industries and taught at Methodist University, while Barbara taught school in Cumberland County for more than 30 years. With these successful and community- oriented role models guiding her, Alexander, like any good Southern girl, worked hard in school, and upon graduation headed off to Chapel Hill, where being a Carolina girl is a lot like royalty. "People who go to Chapel Hill are fanatical about it," said Alexander during a recent interview. "It's in our blood. It's something we want to pass on to our children." It is the tradition and passion of Southern women, that Alexander tackles in her play A Southern Girl's Got to Have it, which is on stage over Valentine's Day weekend during the return of dinner theatre to Fayetteville. Alexander, who studied journalism and English at the venerable campus in Chapel Hill, has made a career in the publishing industry working for newspapers and magazines and eventually serving as an advertising copywriter for Bank of America. Alexander also has another passion: theatre. "I've done theatre from the time I was in high school on through my 20s," she explained. "When my children started getting a little older, I was eager to get back into theatre, but I hadn't done it in a while." To get back into the swing of things, she joined the Actor's Lab, which is a highly regarded theatrical organization in Charlotte. Each week, members of the lab had to go on stage and perform a monologue. She found that the roles that were available to women of her age were not as interesting to her, and decided to fall back on her other passion — writing — and started writing her own monologues and performing them. She joined a playwriting class, where she further developed her storytelling skills and where she learned more about structure, and then, she wrote. Ultimately, she wrote several short monologues, which together, became A Southern Girl's Got to Have it. "These monologues were not all written at the same time, they were different pieces that came together," she explained. "'Carolina Fever' was an earlier monologue. It's written about a mom whose child is going to college and she really wants him to go to a good college. And like all Carolina alumni, she is obsessed with UNC-Chapel Hill. It permeates her every day world from cups to license plates — and that's what sparked 'Carolina Fever.'" When asked how much of her own personality is poured into each of the characters, Alexander responded, "You can't help but write about yourself.You write about the most vulnerable, wacky aspects of your psyche and turn those aspects into characters. "If I was as extreme as most of my characters, I would be locked up," she continued. "Most of my characters come from my observations of people and life and people I have known in the different stages of my life and people who folks in Fayetteville will recognize from their own lives as well." Alexander said the play is a humorous look at the life of a Southern woman, which includes the ugly parts as well. She says it is important for people to know that this is an adult play and is intended for adults — not children. Southern Girl: Elaine Alexander by JANICE BURTON PERSONALITY PROFILES