One-woman show coming to Milton Theatre Feb. 23

Pat Nixon claimed that being the first lady was the hardest unpaid job in the world.

“Tea for Three: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty,” a one-woman play starring co-writer and actress Elaine Bromka, sets out to describe the celebrity, social changes, and pressure endured by three first ladies during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The play will be performed at Milton Theatre at 3 and 7 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23. 

“What’s the personal cost that these ladies went through?” asked Bromka. “It’s really an exploration of walking in their shoes. What’s it like when your husband is suddenly in the White House? How could you possibly know what you’re getting into? It’s the day-in-day-out of what you have to do, how good you have to look, and what you can’t say.”

The play offers glimpses of the lives of the three first ladies toward the end of their husbands’ terms. Bromka and co-writer Eric H. Weinberger have woven a story that intertwines the women’s relationships with their husbands, themselves and the changing world around them.

“It was such a huge time of turmoil,” Bromka said. “They were all bright women, but things were just starting to switch over.  From Lady Bird saying that Lyndon B. Johnson was her identity to Betty Ford telling people not to tell her what to think. You get to see that change – in the women’s roles and outspokenness – in such a short time period. Focusing on the human cost and the funny, quirky things on the way keeps it warm, humane and moving.”

“Tea for Three” went off-Broadway in 2013 and has been getting rave reviews since. It was published in 2015 and has been produced all over the country, Bromka said.

Bromka has more than 30 years’ experience in film, television, Broadway, and off-Broadway. Her many credits include appearances on Days of Our Lives, E.R., The Sopranos and Law and Order, among others.

Bromka said she plays all three of the characters because it’s fun. By playing all three she is able to show the transition from one first lady to the next, emphasizing the social changes occurring at the time.

Coming up with drama in a biographical play is often difficult, but Bromka said the two writers developed a script that reads almost like telling a story around a campfire.

“Weinberger was able to fashion situations where someone is on the phone, or telling a memory, or finding something out. It’s all about what’s happening in the room at the time. It’s a play that lets the audience experience things in the now. It’s like spying on somebody.”

For more information and ticket sales, go to miltontheatre.com.