Charlayne Woodard is back in town. Sort of. Last month, San Diego theatregoers were treated to the actress and playwright in her newest one-woman piece, "The Night Watcher," at La Jolla Playhouse. The new play, a workshop in the Playhouse's Page-to-Stage program, dealt with the numerous young people in her life who call the happily married-and-single actress "Auntie" (see link). In a coincidental turn of events, Lamb's Players Theatre has followed that up with Woodard's first autobiographical play, "Pretty Fire," but instead of the woman herself, the gifted Tracy Hughes takes on the role of Charlayne.

Tracy Hughes as Charlayne Woodard

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

It's an odd feeling to watch someone else play Woodard, especially if you saw the real thing just a few weeks ago. To experience her in "The Night Watcher" (or in any of her autobiographical plays, which also include "In Real Life" and "Neat") is to get an upclose look into various aspects of her private life; you come away feeling as though you almost know her. It must be even more strange -- and exhilarating -- for Woodard, who has expressed excitement at the notion that, for the first time, she will be able to see another actress play her.

It is a testament to Hughes's skill as an actress that she embodies the role so vividly you almost immediately forget you're not watching the playwright. Even further, in outward appearance the buxom Hughes doesn't necessarily bring to mind a preteen (the age at which we see Charlayne in "Pretty Fire"), nor does she much resemble the more angular Woodard. But as Hughes relates, and acts out, the five stories from Woodard's early childhood, she brings so much vitality to the characters of Charlayne and her family members that we don't much care.

Through Hughes, we learn of Charlayne's difficult infancy. Born prematurely, she weighed a mere one pound, eight ounces, and by the time she came home from the hospital eleven months later, Charlayne already had a newborn little sister (her parents' "insurance," she quips, in case the doctors were right and she didn't survive).

Though born and raised in a loving, closeknit family in upstate New York, Charlayne's summers were spent with grandparents in the South. The contrasting locales provide inspiration for a couple of Nate Peirson's striking lighting effects, a gentle, shimmering snowfall and the conflagration of the play's title -- a "pretty fire" to Charlayne's innocent young eyes, if not to the elders who hid fearfully from white-hooded Klansmen. Scenic designer Robert Smyth's sunburst of wooden planks provides the backdrop.

Tracy Hughes

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

The second half takes us through the ups and downs of her later childhood, from a traumatic sexual assault at the hands of a neighborhood bully to Charlayne's church choir-induced discovery of her performing gifts.

Through it all, director Kerry Meads keeps the pacing fluid, working in tandem with Hughes's remarkable abilities to command the stage all by herself while playing a very real, non-fictional person.

No, it's not her own life story, but for close to two magical hours, Hughes makes us believe that it is.

And that's what theatre's all about.