'Little Sisters' Return
for Encore Production

Tulare - They're back and this time those rollicking good souls from the Little Sisters of Hoboken convent are performing in the Pump Room Lounge of the Mystique Motor Lodge in Las Vegas.

Say what? You'll just have to go check it out yourself as Tulare's Encore Theatre presents “Nunsensations! The Nunsense Vegas Review.”

This is Encore's fourth production featuring Mother Superior Sister Mary Regina and her troop of zany nuns and it the sixth in author Dan Goggin's Nunsense series, which has been delighting audiences around the country for 25 years.

No one's more excited about the return of the Little Sisters than the cast and director Susan Burley.

Burley, who in previous shows played the Sister Hubert, is directing her first Nunsense show, stepping into the shoes successfully filled previously by the late Teena Grissom.

And, to make the circle complete, Teena's sister, Nancy Gregg, has come out of Encore retirement — her last show was “Lend Me a Tenor” about nine years ago —t o tackle the role of Sister Hubert.

“I kind of thought I owed it to my sister,” Gregg said. “I also thought it might be kind of fun.”

And fun it has been, she said.

“We [the cast] get along great and we're having a great time,” she said. “The script is very humorous and you don't have to be Catholic to enjoy the Catholic humor, although I think Catholics will very much enjoy it.”

Burley agreed the effort has been enjoyable.

“It's fun working with just five women, instead of a large cast…and the script is funny with great music,” she said. “It's a very fully costumed show…very Las Vegas style. They wear other things on top of their nun outfits.”

She tells Gregg that she is “jealous” of her because Sister Hubert is featured more in this production than any of the three other Nunsense shows Encore has done.
Sister Hubert, for the uninitiated, is second in command of the Little Sisters but really wants to be in charge, Gregg said. “She's a little bossy.”

Except for Barbara Goodsby who plays Sister Amnesia, who once lost her memory when a Cross fell and hit her on the head, hence her name, the other cast members are new to the “nunnery.” The lone male in the production is Burley's husband, David, who plays the stage hand.

Encore has previously produced “Nunsense,” “Nunsense II” and “Nuncrackers.”

The above story is the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.